After thirteen years as a BMW M Motorsport works driver, Bruno Spengler is leaving BMW at his request to pursue other opportunities.
One of the highlights of Spengler’s career as a BMW driver was winning the 2012 DTM drivers’ championship when BMW returned to that series with the M4 DTM. This was also his first full year as a factory driver. Between 2012 and 2019, Spengler competed in 122 DTM races for BMW, scoring seven victories (four in the 2012 championship season) and 24 podium finishes. Before joining BMW, Spengler was a factory driver for Mercedes-AMG in DTM.
Spengler was also successful as a GT driver. In 2020 and 2021, he drove for BMW M Team RLL in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the M8 GTE. He also finished on the podium at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Most recently, Spengler won the Italian GT Sprint Championship with Jens Klingmann in an M4 GT3. He was also heavily involved in BMW’s sim racing efforts.
Spengler at the wheel of the M8 GT3 at Watkins Glen in 2021.
Spengler was very thankful for his time at BMW. “I would like to sincerely thank the entire BMW M Motorsport family, all the engineers, and all the mechanics for the past 13 years,” he said. “I had the privilege of driving incredibly fantastic racing cars all over the world – it was a great time. My special thanks go to the former BMW Board Member, Dr. Klaus Draeger, who particularly supported me in my early years at BMW M Motorsport, as well as to Charly Lamm and the entire Schnitzer family, with whom I won the DTM title in 2012 and experienced many fantastic years together. It was not an easy decision for me to leave the BMW M Motorsport family, but I am at a point in my career where a new challenge with a long-term perspective was important to me. That’s why I decided to take this step.“
According to Spengler’s Instagram page, he will join Arnold NextG as a brand ambassador and development driver for the company’s drive-by-wire technology, which is “the basis for autonomous driving.”
In other driver news, Maxime Martin, who announced on December 9th that he was leaving BMW M Motorsport, is now a Mercedes-AMG factory driver.
—David Haueter
[Photo courtesy BMW]
