The DTM championship held their seventh and eighth rounds of the season at the Norisring in Germany this past weekend of July 7, 2024. The Norisring is the only street circuit in Germany, and the DTM was also celebrating their 40th birthday there, holding two races with vintage cars and stars from the last four decades in addition to the feature races.
René Rast (in top photo) put in a great drive in the first race on Saturday in his Schubert Motorsport M4 GT3 after starting seventh and making a crucial decision on tires to secure his first win of the year. Starting on slicks, most drivers came in to change to rain tires once rain started to fall, but Rast elected to stay out on slicks, which is always a risky move considering how little grip they give on a wet track.
René Rast celebrates his victory in race one.
Rast put his driving skills on display, bringing his M4 GT3 to the win despite the weather. Sheldon van der Linde qualified the best among the BMW drivers in second but finished seventh, while Marco Wittmann (whose hometown in ten miles up the road from the Norisring), finished twelfth. “For me, the Norisring is one of the best tracks on the calendar,” said Rast. “This win feels huge. It got a bit loud on the radio, because I was determined to stay on slicks, despite the rain. That was a brave decision, but it paid dividends.”
Sheldon van der Linde finished seventh in race one.
Rast was also the best of the BMW drivers in race two. He started in nineteenth and had 20 kilos of “rewards weight” added to the car after his win in race one but stormed up to a fifth-place finish at the end. Sheldon van der Linde finished fourteenth in race two after being penalized, and Marco Wittmann finished in eleventh. Now at the halfway point of the season, Rast is eleven points behind leader Mirko Bortolotti in the overall standings, while Schubert Motorsport is leading the team standings.
Marco Wittmann had a disappointing race weekend.
BMW teams also had success in the ADAC GT4 Germany series, which was run as a support race for DTM. BMW M Motorsport teams celebrated a 1-2-3 finish in their first race on Saturday, with Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport drivers Gabriele Piana and Michael Schrey taking their fourth win of the year and padding their lead in the championship, while teammates Tim Reiter and Leon Wassertheurer finished third. Leyton Fourie and Max Rosam finished second in their FK Performance Motorsport M4 GT4.
Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport are leading the ADAC GT4 Germany standings.
The DTM series will race next at the Nurburgring on August 16-18, 2024.
Vintage BMWs raced in the DTM Classic race.
-David Haueter
[Photos by Gruppe C Photos, BMW]
