Björn Lellmann, Head of Customer Racing at BMW M Motorsport:
“It may be holiday season, but our customer racing teams are
certainly not thinking about taking a break. They continue to collect
trophies with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO and BMW M4 GT4 EVO across their
respective championships. A great example was last weekend at Mugello,
where BMW Italia Ceccato Racing, Casals Motorsport and Promodrive
enjoyed success in the Italian GT Championship and the GT4 Italy
Series. FK Performance Motorsport also delivered an outstanding
performance in ADAC GT4 Germany at Oschersleben, securing two podium
finishes and taking the lead in the drivers’ standings. On the other
side of the globe, in Australia, the BMW M4 GT4 EVO also finished on
the podium. The weekend before had already brought further success for
our customer racing teams in the International GT Open and the GT4
European Series.”
—
Italian GT Championship (24th-26th July): Klingmann and de
Wilde claim an important victory at Mugello.
BMW M works driver Jens Klingmann (GER) and BMW Italia Ceccato Racing
continued their successful campaign and their road to the title in the
Italian GT Championship. The third Sprint Cup event of the season took
place last weekend at Mugello (ITA). Klingmann shared driving duties
this time with fellow BMW M works driver Ugo de Wilde (BEL). The pair
claimed victory in Sunday’s race aboard the #7 BMW M4 GT3 EVO after
finishing fifth in Saturday’s race. With this successful weekend, BMW
Italia Ceccato Racing regained the championship lead.
“For us, Mugello was a very important weekend, a real key event,”
Klingmann said. “We were very happy with fifth place on Saturday.
After our victory at Vallelunga, we had to serve the 15-second pit
stop penalty stipulated by the regulations. So, Saturday was all about
maximising our points haul and avoiding mistakes. On Sunday, we went
all in with one clear objective: to win the race. The team did a
fantastic job, and everything also went flawlessly with Ugo. As a
result, we scored a lot of valuable points. That’s why I call it a key
event: it was the penultimate round of the Italian GT Sprint season,
and we now head into the finale as the championship leaders. That’s
the position we’ve earned, and the position we wanted to be in. Now
the goal is to bring the championship home and secure the title for
Ceccato Racing and BMW M Motorsport for the third time. We’re really
looking forward to the season finale at Monza, where we’ve enjoyed
some excellent results over the past few years.”
Their BMW Italia Ceccato Racing teammates Anthony McIntosh (USA) and
Parker Thompson (CAN) also had plenty to celebrate in the GT3 Pro-Am
class. Driving the #8 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, they claimed class victory on
Sunday after already finishing third in class on Saturday.
The GT4 Italy Series also held two races as part of the Mugello
weekend, and the Italian pairing of Giacomo Maman and Gustavo
Sandrucci from Casals Motorsport proved unbeatable. Driving the #16
BMW M4 GT4 EVO, they won both races to secure their third and fourth
victories of the season. In race one, their teammates Sebastian
Gavazza and Luca Esposito (both ITA) joined them on the podium,
finishing third in the #65 BMW M4 GT4 EVO. In race two, third place
went to Andrea Palazzo (ITA) and Aiva Anagnostiadis (AUS) in the #27
BMW M4 GT4 EVO entered by Promodrive.
—
ADAC GT4 Germany
(24th-26th July):
Piana and Sylvestersson move into the championship lead.
Gabriele Piana (ITA) and Benjamin Sylvestersson (FIN) secured two
podium finishes during the third round of the ADAC GT4 Germany season
at Oschersleben (GER). The FK Performance Motorsport duo finished
third in Saturday’s race before completing a double podium weekend
with second place on Sunday in the #51 BMW M4 GT4 EVO. As a result,
they moved into the lead of the drivers’ standings at the halfway
point of the season, holding a one-point advantage.
“Overall, we can be very happy with the weekend,” Sylvestersson said
afterwards. “Regaining the championship lead is a great result.
Today’s race was anything but easy, but the team did a fantastic job
and we made the most of our opportunities. Our focus now shifts to the
Nürburgring, where we want to build on this performance and hopefully
achieve another strong result.”
In the teams’ standings, FK Performance Motorsport sits second after
six of twelve races, just ahead of ME Motorsport, who also scored
valuable points at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. On Sunday, Linus
Hahne and Phillip Wiskirchen (both GER) narrowly missed the podium in
the #77 BMW M4 GT4 EVO after finishing sixth on Saturday and
collecting important championship points. Their teammates Leon
Bauchmüller (GER) and Lukas Stiefelhagen (NED) finished inside the top
ten in both races with the #66 BMW M4 GT4 EVO.
There was also success in the Pro-Am category for Michael Maniszewski
(GER) and Daniel Drexel (AUT). The razoon – more than racing pairing
won their class on Saturday before finishing second in class on Sunday
in the #10 BMW M4 GT4 EVO.
—
GT4 European Series (
17th-19th
July): Three class podium finishes at Misano.
In temperatures well above 30 degrees Celsius, the GT4 European
Series headed to Misano (ITA) for its fourth round of the season. BMW
M Racing Academy member Thomi Rackl (GER) and his Italian teammate
Gabriele Piana, who had celebrated a double victory at
Spa-Francorchamps (BEL), were once again in contention for a podium
finish. However, the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport duo narrowly missed
out in the #12 BMW M4 GT4 EVO, with fourth place in race two following
a difficult opening race.
In the Pro-Am class, the BMW M4 GT4 EVO recorded three podium
finishes. Sweden’s Joakim Walde and Victor Bouveng finished second in
the opening race in the #98 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO. Davide
Meloni and Paolo Meloni (both ITA) claimed third place in class in
both races with the #53 BMW M4 GT4 EVO entered by W&D Racing Team.
—
M News compact: More victories and podium finishes.
GT4 Australia (
24th-26th
July): At the Darwin (AUS) race weekend, Jay Murray
(AUS) finished third overall in race two in the #7 BMW M4 GT4 EVO
entered by McElrea Racing.
International GT Open (
17th-18th
July): In the first of the two races at Le Castellet
(FRA), Hubert Darmetko and Fabian Dybionka (both POL) finished third
in the Pro-Am category with the #7 BMW M4 GT3 EVO fielded by 4F PTT
Racing Team.