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Auto123.com met with director of BMW Motorsport, Jens Marquardt during the meeting of the finale of the DTM at the Hockenheimring in Germany this past weekend.
BMW driver, Canadian Bruno Spengler clinched his maiden DTM title by winning the race from his main championship rival, Mercedes driver Gary Paffett.
BMW's boss of racing was obviously delighted with the outcome of the race and the season.
"With his fourth win of the season, Bruno Spengler managed to win the drivers' title in BMW's first year back in the DTM for 20 years," Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director told us.
"To be honest: we would not have dared to dream of a season like this. We have gone up against two ambitious and unbelievably strong opponents with a wealth of DTM experience. Our goal for the opening year was to learn and become competitive as soon as possible. That we have achieved far more than this and won three titles is testimony to the outstanding job done by the whole team. With the other competitors, we have treated the fans to ten excitings races and maximum tension right down to the final race. That just goes to show the concept of the new DTM has been a complete success," Marquardt added.
Marquardt was asked why the DTM was so attractive to BMW. "It is one of the most competitive series in the world," he started saying.
"We also prefer to race in a series that showcase race cars that are very similar to road going vehicles. The M3 we race here in the DTM looks like any M3 that customers can buy at any dealership," he added.
"For us the DTM is attracting because it is a fantastic marketing platform. We also really appreciate the rule changes that were applied for this year. The series has managed to reduce the costs and to make the new generation of cars a lot safer than before. We built the first carbon fibre safety cell used in a sedan, and this has been a major improvement in terms of driver safety," Marquardt said.
The DTM cars will soon be eligible to run in the Japan GT series and the new Grand-Am/ALMS series in North America. What kind of car BMW intends to run in the U.S.?
"The merger between ALMS and Grand-Am is really great news for the sport. And it's the same with the agreement DTM has found with the organisers of the Japan GT series. Very important meetings will take place between now and the next Spring with Grand-Am, ALMS and ACO officials to define the new technical package of the American series. We at BMW want to run car in that new series but we first need to look at the rules and see where we fit in there," Marquardt explained.
And what about the possibility of building a car for endurance racing and the 24 Hours of Le Mans?
"No. We've won Le Mans in the past and like I said before, we want to race cars that are similar to our road going cars. We would not build a machine such as an LMP1 for that reason. We want the fans to see race cars that are extremely similar to their street going cousins. Le Mans is certainly out of the question," Marquardt ended.
BMW driver, Canadian Bruno Spengler clinched his maiden DTM title by winning the race from his main championship rival, Mercedes driver Gary Paffett.
BMW's boss of racing was obviously delighted with the outcome of the race and the season.
"With his fourth win of the season, Bruno Spengler managed to win the drivers' title in BMW's first year back in the DTM for 20 years," Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport Director told us.
"To be honest: we would not have dared to dream of a season like this. We have gone up against two ambitious and unbelievably strong opponents with a wealth of DTM experience. Our goal for the opening year was to learn and become competitive as soon as possible. That we have achieved far more than this and won three titles is testimony to the outstanding job done by the whole team. With the other competitors, we have treated the fans to ten excitings races and maximum tension right down to the final race. That just goes to show the concept of the new DTM has been a complete success," Marquardt added.
Marquardt was asked why the DTM was so attractive to BMW. "It is one of the most competitive series in the world," he started saying.
"We also prefer to race in a series that showcase race cars that are very similar to road going vehicles. The M3 we race here in the DTM looks like any M3 that customers can buy at any dealership," he added.
"For us the DTM is attracting because it is a fantastic marketing platform. We also really appreciate the rule changes that were applied for this year. The series has managed to reduce the costs and to make the new generation of cars a lot safer than before. We built the first carbon fibre safety cell used in a sedan, and this has been a major improvement in terms of driver safety," Marquardt said.
The DTM cars will soon be eligible to run in the Japan GT series and the new Grand-Am/ALMS series in North America. What kind of car BMW intends to run in the U.S.?
"The merger between ALMS and Grand-Am is really great news for the sport. And it's the same with the agreement DTM has found with the organisers of the Japan GT series. Very important meetings will take place between now and the next Spring with Grand-Am, ALMS and ACO officials to define the new technical package of the American series. We at BMW want to run car in that new series but we first need to look at the rules and see where we fit in there," Marquardt explained.
And what about the possibility of building a car for endurance racing and the 24 Hours of Le Mans?
"No. We've won Le Mans in the past and like I said before, we want to race cars that are similar to our road going cars. We would not build a machine such as an LMP1 for that reason. We want the fans to see race cars that are extremely similar to their street going cousins. Le Mans is certainly out of the question," Marquardt ended.