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ottobre 29, 2020 - BMW Motorsport

BMW teams celebrate two sim racing title wins within just a few hours

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Munich. On Tuesday evening, two popular sim racing race series ended with title wins for BMW teams. In the DTM Esports Championship, the team of BMW DTM driver Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) was victorious at the grand finale. Williams Esports driver Moritz Löhner (GER) also won the driver’s title at the wheel of the virtual BMW M4 DTM. Just a few hours later, the BMW Bank team was crowned overall winner of the Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series powered by VCO. Fourth place in the virtual BMW Z4 GT3 at the season finale was enough for BMW works driver Bruno Spengler (CAN) and Nils Koch and Kay Kaschube (both GER) of BS+COMPETITION to maintain first place in the overall standings.

DTM Esports Championship.

In four race events over the past few weeks, teams made up of professional racing drivers and top sim racers did battle for the DTM Esports Champion title on the platform Raceroom. BMW Motorsport was represented by the active DTM drivers Lucas Auer (AUT), Timo Glock (GER) and Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), who were captains of their Esports teams in addition to contesting their usual races in the DTM.

At the grand finale on Tuesday evening it was ‘Team Sheldon van der Linde’ that emerged victorious. The primary reason for their success was Williams Esports driver Moritz Löhner, who won two of the last three races, which saw him being awarded double points, in the virtual BMW M4 DTM. His team-mate Tim Jarschel (GER) also finished on the podium twice, contributing valuable points. The fourth driver alongside van der Linde, who was regularly one of the top pro racing drivers in the field, was Leonard Krippner (GER).

But the evening’s big winner was Löhner, who thanks to his victories won the driver’s championship in addition to the team championship. His prize is a test drive in a GT4 car from the DTM Trophy. All of ‘Team Sheldon van der Linde’ will be invited to a multi-day workshop at Formula Medicine and a test in the professional simulator.

Sheldon van der Linde (Team Sheldon van der Linde): “It’s cool being the DTM Esports champion, and it feels fantastic. When the teams were drawn for this championship, I would never have dreamed that I had drawn some of the top sim racers on the platform Raceroom. I’m over the moon for Moritz Löhner, bringing home the overall win among the sim racers. I know that he has a really cool prize in store, and hope he really enjoys it.”

Moritz Löhner (Team Sheldon van der Linde): “I’m delighted to have won the title. After the first race at the Portimão track I thought that the battle for the title was already over but I didn’t give up, and told myself that a lot could still happen in the remaining two races. And that was the case. I was able to make up the deficit with two wins and two pole positions. Now I’m really excited to see what my test in the GT4 car will be like. I think that ‘Team Sheldon van der Linde’ was the best team in the competition. The collaboration with Sheldon was great. We communicated a lot and helped each other out. We got on really well, and the team title is the icing on the cake of my driver’s title.”

Tim Jarschel (Team Sheldon van der Linde): “It was really cool that we were able to unite real-world and virtual racing in this race series. And bringing home the team title on top of that was the perfect way to round off the experience. The championship was set up really well and the races were a lot of fun. I would love it if championships like this were held more often.”

Leonard Krippner (Team Sheldon van der Linde): “I’m really happy that I was able to take part. When the teams were drawn, I was delighted to be driving with Sheldon, Moritz and Tim. Moritz and Tim are two of the world’s best racers on the platform Raceroom. For me as a rookie on Raceroom, the race series was a really cool experience. Part of it was also the opportunity to collaborate directly with a racing driver like Sheldon. I did my best to do my bit to contribute to the success of the team, but ultimately it was mainly Moritz and Tim who really rocked it.”

Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series powered by VCO.

With the ninth race of the season, the inaugural season of the Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series powered by VCO hosted on the sim racing platform iRacing drew to a close on Tuesday evening. Fourth place in the BMW Z4 GT3 was enough for the BMW Bank team with drivers Bruno Spengler, Nils Koch and Kay Kaschube to clinch the overall win. The trio brought home three wins on the virtual Nürburgring-Nordschleife during the course of the season. The BMW Junior Team with Dan Harper (GBR), Max Hesse (GER) and Neil Verhagen (USA) also made regular appearances in the BMW Z4 GT3. During the course of the season, in addition to the BMW Z4 GT3, the virtual BMW M4 GT4 was also available in the SP10 class.

Bruno Spengler (Team BMW Bank): “The final was another really tough race because our rivals were really strong. Fortunately, my fast team-mates Kay and Nils built up a good lead so that I could bring the title home. That was my goal after I had to miss a few DNLS races due to my race appearances in the IMSA series. I’m delighted that the whole team’s hard work paid off. It’s a cool title.”

Kay Kaschube (Team BMW Bank): “It was an amazing season overall, and one that was a lot of fun. When I think back on how as sim racers we suddenly had so many pro racing drivers around us at the start of the pandemic, and raced with them on the same track – it was fantastic. Now to have brought home this title with Bruno and Nils is great.”

Nils Koch (Team BMW Bank): “You can’t do better than the title – a great season. I think we proved over the whole season that we are up there at the front with our pace. We got the most race wins and delivered our performances consistently over a long period, since the start of the season in March. It was a lot of fun, and the title win is the culmination. Many thanks to my team-mates, the whole team behind the scenes and BMW Bank for the fantastic support.”