The recent BMW M Motorsport success streak continued at the penultimate DTM race weekend of the season at the Red Bull Ring (AUT). René Rast (GER) triumphed in the Sunday race with the #33 RoboMarkets BMW M4 GT3, celebrating his second and the fourth season victory for Schubert Motorsport.
Laura Claesgens
BMW Group
Spielberg. The recent BMW M Motorsport success streak continued at the penultimate DTM race weekend of the season at the Red Bull Ring (AUT). René Rast (GER) triumphed in the Sunday race with the #33 RoboMarkets BMW M4 GT3, celebrating his second and the fourth season victory for Schubert Motorsport. Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) and Marco Wittmann (GER) finished in sixth and eleventh places respectively on Sunday. After a challenging Saturday race, Team Schubert made a strong comeback with Rast's win the following day and extended their lead in the team standings before the season finale. With 320 points, the team from Oschersleben (GER) has a 39-point cushion in the title fight .
René Rast underscored his ambitions in the DTM Sunday qualifying at Spielberg with the third-fastest time, aiming to significantly improve from his ninth-place finish in Saturday's first race. In the first half of Sunday's race, Rast engaged in several thrilling duels and entered the pit stop in second position. Thanks to an outstanding performance by Team Schubert during the pit stop, the #33 BMW M4 GT3 took the lead, which Rast fiercely defended in the final laps against Thomas Preining (AUT, Porsche). With his 28th DTM victory overall and the third for BMW M Motorsport, Rast is now the highest-ranked BMW M Motorsport driver in fourth place in the drivers' standings before the last two races of the season at Hockenheim (GER).
The team standings look much better for Schubert Motorsport, which has extended its lead and heads into the season finale with good prospects for a second title win after 2022. Sheldon van der Linde contributed to this with two points finishes at the Red Bull Ring. After finishing eleventh on Saturday from last place on the grid, he improved six places on Sunday in the #31 Shell BMW M4 GT3 from twelfth on the grid to finish sixth. Marco Wittmann was unlucky in the first race, retiring with technical issues for his #11 Schaeffler BMW M4 GT3. In the second race, he also moved up six places to finish eleventh.
Podium finishes in the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany.
In ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring, Leon Köhler (GER) and Maxime Oosten (NED) finished third in the second race, keeping their mathematical title chances alive as they head into the season finale at Hockenheim in second place in the drivers' standings. However, they are already 18 points behind the leaders. In the first race of the Spielberg weekend, the FK Performance Motorsport duo in the #54 BMW M4 GT3 did not advance beyond ninth place. In the sister #10 car, Eduardo Coseteng (PHI) and Pedro Ebrahim (BRA) finished in 13th and 15th places.
In ADAC GT4 Germany, Michael Schrey (GER) and Gabriele Piana (ITA) had a challenging weekend but defended their lead in the drivers' standings in their #2 BMW M4 GT4 from Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport. After finishing fourth and sixth at Spielberg, their chances of winning the title remain good. The only podium finish for the BMW M4 GT4 was achieved on Sunday by Leyton Fourie (RSA) and Max Rosam (GER), who finished second in the FK Performance Motorsport #46 car.
Comments after the races:
Björn Lellmann (Head of Customer Racing at BMW M Motorsport): “It was a weekend of highs and lows in all racing series. Based on our positive past experiences, we came to the Red Bull Ring with high expectations, which we unfortunately only partially met. René Rast's victory in the DTM race on Sunday was fantastic – and extremely important for Schubert Motorsport's bid to win the team standings. Unfortunately, things did not go optimally for Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann, especially in qualifying. This problem has continued throughout the season. In the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany, our teams made it to the podium once each. I warmly congratulate them on this. We had hoped for a bit more, but the title race in the ADAC GT4 Germany still looks very promising, and we will go all out again at Hockenheim in the ADAC GT Masters.”
Torsten Schubert (Team Principal Schubert Motorsport): “We struggled with the low temperatures this weekend and especially on Saturday, we couldn't perform as we are used to with the BMW M4 GT3 at the Red Bull Ring. Fortunately, our performance on Sunday, especially René Rast's, was much better. Although we still didn't have the fastest car, we were able to take the victory thanks to our strategy and a great pit stop by our crew. I am very pleased about that. Unfortunately, Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann had to start from further back and didn't make it through the field as well as we had hoped. Nevertheless, we are heading to Hockenheim leading the team standings and want to fight for the title there.”
René Rast (#33 RoboMarkets BMW M4 GT3): “I am very happy about the happy end to the weekend with my victory on Sunday. Overall, we had hoped for more from the races at the Red Bull Ring, and unfortunately, not much was possible on Saturday. But on Sunday, my third place in qualifying was the key to success. From this good position, I was able to show a strong pace and some nice overtaking maneuvers in the race. We also had a very good strategy and a great pit stop. I think the victory was deserved, even though it was hard work. Now we go to Hockenheim and hopefully finish the season strongly there.”
Sheldon van der Linde (#31 Shell BMW M4 GT3): “Congratulations to René and the team on the victory and the good position in the team championship. We will do everything we can at Hockenheim to bring this title home and end the season on a high. For me personally, the Spielberg weekend was disappointing. We didn't get everything right on our side of the garage as we needed to. In such a high-class championship, it's simply not enough to be average. We were too far back in qualifying and therefore on the backfoot from the start of the races, even though I had a really good pace and was able to make up many places. I am very proud of that.”
Marco Wittmann (#11 Schaeffler BMW M4 GT3): “Compared to my BMW colleagues, I lacked top speed throughout the weekend, which is obviously a problem, especially on a track like the Red Bull Ring. Looking ahead to the Hockenheim season finale, we need to take a close look at what caused this and how we can fix it. It was very unfortunate that I had a technical problem on Saturday and couldn't score any points. Things went a bit better on Sunday at least. Overall, though, it was a great weekend for the team with René Rast's victory on Sunday. Congratulations!“
