BMW’s German Touring Car Championship season ended on a high note, with all six M4 DTMs finishing in the top ten in Sunday’s race at Hockenheim. Marco Wittmann finished second, while Bruno Spengler, Augusto Farfus, Philipp Eng, Joel Eriksson, Timo Glock finished sixth through tenth. In Saturday’s race Glock finished third and Spengler finished ninth.
Wittmann shared the Sunday podium with race winner René Rast of Audi, who was victorious in the last six races of the season, and Gary Paffett of Mercedes, who won the DTM drivers’ championship. Mercedes, which is leaving DTM, had already clinched the manufacturers’ title at the series’ penultimate event in Spielberg.
BMW’s Philipp Eng was named the series rookie of the year. Wittmann finished fourth in drivers’ points, Glock finished fifth, and BMW was second to Mercedes in manufacturers’ points.
In the days leading up to the Hockenheim race it was announced that Aston Martin would enter DTM in 2019, keeping the manufacturer count at three despite Mercedes’ departure.
Reflecting on the 2018 season, BMW Motorsport director Jens Marquardt said, “The DTM season draws to a close with another exciting race in Hockenheim—with Marco Wittmann on the podium, all BMW drivers in the points, and a thrilling conclusion to the title race. It has been another spectacular season, with highs and lows for us. One positive aspect was definitely the fact that we were well positioned across the board. Every one of our six regular drivers finished on the podium at least once over the course of the season and we claimed four race wins. There were a lot of highlights, including the fantastic battle between Timo Glock and Gary Paffett at the season-opener in Hockenheim, Marco Wittmann’s victory on home soil at the Norisring, and Alex Zanardi’s unforgettable outing in the night races at Misano. On the whole, the 2018 DTM once again thrilled fans with fantastic motor racing—exactly as it should do. We would obviously have liked to have been battling for titles right down to the finish. Despite many individual successes, the big success has evaded us this time. Congratulations to Mercedes and Gary Paffett on winning the Manufacturer and Driver titles: it is hard to believe that Mercedes are turning their back on this fantastic series and its fans. We are now looking forward to the 2019 season – with a new car, new opponents and, without any doubt, the same enthusiasm for this series.” —Brian Morgan
