BMW Motorsports is changing its teams for the 2017 season to realign in preparation for its 2018 involvement in FIA World Endurance Cup racing. BMW Team RMG and BMW Team RBM will continue to battle for points and wins in the DTM, aka German Touring Car. Both teams have been successfully competing in this series since the brand’s return in 2012.
BMW also competes in the roughly equivalent Le Mans GT class in North America – the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. However, BMW runs in the GT class – as does Ford and Porsche – not the top prototype class. What FIA class it will run in is unclear. There is speculation that BMW will compete in the top LMP1 class.
RMG, headed by team principal Stefan Reinhold (DE), took the team championship in 2014 and has two drivers’ titles with Marco Wittmann (DE) in 2014 and 2016. The 2017 drivers will be announced on 9 December at the BMW Motorsport Season Review in Munich. The BMW Motorsports customer racing program will continue as in 2016 with the Schubert Motorsport and ROWE Racing teams.
Le Mans
During 2017, BMW Team MTEK will start “intensive preparations” for BMW’s entry into the FIA WEC in 2018. Ernest Knoors (NL) and his team competed in the DTM between 2013 and 2016, including the first DTM win for Timo Glock (DE) in the last race of the 2013 season. Last season, the crew from Garching (DE) won the “Best Pit Stop Award” for the fastest pit stops of any team. Plans for next year foresee that BMW Team MTEK will complete a comprehensive test and development program in preparation for the WEC entry of BMW.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – new faces from Europe.
In 2017, BMW Team RLL will again be represented by two BMW M6 GTLMs in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC). Bill Auberlen (US) and John Edwards (US) will be the regular drivers from the USA next season. They will be joined by two new team-mates from Europe: in 2017, Auberlen will start alongside Alexander Sims (GB), whose fine performances in this season included overall victory for the ROWE Racing team with the BMW M6 GT3 at the 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps (BE).
At the wheel of the second BMW M6 GTLM, BMW works driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) will join Edwards for the GTLM class races. The quartet will be supported by DTM drivers Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler, as well as Kuno Wittmer (CA) and Nick Catsburg (NL) for the endurance races on the calendar. Auberlen, Sims, Farfus and Spengler will also share driving duties in the BMW M6 GTLM Art Car for the 24 Hours of Daytona (US) on 28th/29th January 2017, a car designed by US artist John Baldessari.