BMW teams and drivers had a strong season in the DTM Trophy, which is a GT4-spec series that races on the same weekend as the top GT3-spec DTM championship. Think of it as the equivalent of the SRO GT4 America series here in the US, or the GS class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge.
There were six M4 GT4s competing in the DTM Trophy this past season, and the cars driven by Colin Caresani of Project 1 and Theo Oeverhaus of Walkenhorst Motorsport had considerable success during the year, though both did fall short of the driver’s championship. Caresani finished second in the championship with seven podiums, including four wins, while Oeverhaus finished in third with five podiums, including one win. The drivers’ championship was won by Tim Heinemann of Toyota Gazoo Racing, driving a Toyota Supra GT4.
The success of Caresani along with teammate Louis Henkefend, who won at the Norisring, gave Project 1 enough points to win the team championship. Both Caresani and Henkefend had competed in the M2 Cup series in Europe before racing in DTM Trophy in 2022. Project 1 was also responsible for preparing all the M2 CS race cars that compete in that series before moving to DTM Trophy this year. “Performing like this as a rookie team with rookie drivers is quite decent,” said Team Principal Hans-Bernd Kamps. “A great achievement by the entire crew, with none of them usually getting more than ten hours of sleep during race weekends, that is how eager they were. They were just keen to go for it.”
Colin Caresani gets a champagne shower. He finished second in the drivers championship.
The DTM championship has yet to announce the schedule for 2023, but word is that it’s likely to be even more German-centric than it was in 2022, with possibly only one race weekend outside of Germany. In the 2022 season, there were four race weekends held outside of Germany.
Theo Oeverhaus finished third in the drivers championship.
The 2023 season will also see the debut of the new G82 generation M4 GT4. —David Haueter
[Photos by DTM]