BMW teams and drivers from around the world gathered in Munich this past weekend for the traditional M Motorsport Holiday party, where awards were given out for the successes that BMW teams experienced throughout the year.
One of the most anticipated trophies among privateer teams is the BMW M Sports Trophy, which goes to the most successful drivers and teams. BimmerWorld drivers James Clay and Charlie Postins were awarded the driver trophy for their outstanding season in the SRO GT4 America championship, where they won the Am class in dominant fashion with seven victories and five additional podium finishes in their #36 M4 GT4. The runner-up spot went to Maxime Oosten, who was this year’s champion in the BMW M2 Cup and BMW M2 CS Racing Cup Benelux.
One of the interesting things about the fantastic season that Clay and Postins had is that it wasn’t supposed to happen at the beginning of the season. Clay was planning to drive in the GT World Challenge series in an M4 GT3 with another driver but had to cancel those plans when one of their M4 GT3s was wrecked in testing. Clay and Postins had driven before together in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and put together the GT4 program at the last minute. This was the second year in a row that an American won the drivers trophy, after Sean Quinlan of Cameron Motorsport won the trophy in 2021.
The BMW Sports Trophy for the most successful team went to Schubert Motorsport, who won both the team and team championships in DTM, and also competed in the ADAC GT Masters series and the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The BimmerWorld team was the runner-up in the team Sports Trophy points, followed by Adrenalin Motorsport Team Alzner Automotive.
“Congratulations to the winners of this year’s BMW M Sports Trophy – the 60th edition since it was launched,” said Björn Lellmann, Head of Customer Racing at BMW M Motorsport. “I am glad to see an international mix in the overall standings in both the Driver and Team competitions. This shows that our cars – from the BMW M2 CS Racing, the BMW M4 GT4 and the BMW M4 GT3 to BMW race cars assembled independently – are both very popular and competitive. We will continue to uphold the decades-long tradition of the BMW M Sports Trophy in the future and are already looking forward to our next big anniversary.” —David Haueter
[Photos by Ingrid Kretschmann and courtesy of BMW]
