BMW Motorsport News – Issue 15/2019.

Whether in the DTM, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the ABB FIA Formula E
Championship, or countless other championships: Week after week BMW
teams and drivers around the world do battle for points, victories
and titles. Away from the track too, members of the large BMW
Motorsport family around the world are also creating headlines. The
“BMW Motorsport News” allows us to regularly summarise all the
action for you in a compact and informative manner. This way, you
are always up to speed.

Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia: Victory and podium for BMW
M4 GT4.

At the second race weekend in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia,
BMW Team Studie continued the superb form shown at the season-opener.
In Sunday’s race at the ‘Chang International Circuit’, the fourth race
in the GT4 category, Takayuki Kinoshita and Sunako Jukuchou (both JPN)
celebrated the third win of the season in their #81 BMW M4 GT4. The
duo had crossed the line second on Saturday. Kinoshita and Jukuchou
now have a commanding lead in the GT4 drivers’ standings, with 93
points out of a possible 100. BMW Team Studie is also in first place
in the team standings.

Alessandro Zanardi: success at home World Cup event in Italy.

Since his appearance at the 24 Hours of Daytona (USA) at the end of
January, BMW brand ambassador Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) has again been
concentrating on paracycling. At the weekend, he was in action at his
home World Cup event, the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup in
Corridonia (ITA). He added another victory to his collection there on
Friday when he won the individual time trial by a significant
margin. “In my home country, along a circuit lined with fantastic
people who supported me for the whole distance, reaching the podium
and standing alongside two guys whose combined age is still less than
mine; that is really special. I am delighted,” said Zanardi
afterwards. On Sunday, he was part of the Italian national team that
reached the podium by securing third place in the team event.

Tourenwagen Classics: Van de Poele and Hessel appearing in the
BMW M3.

When the Tourenwagen Classics season starts as part of the upcoming
DTM event at Zolder (BEL) this weekend, an historic BMW M3 from 1987
will be making an appearance with a very special driving duo. In front
of his home fans, Eric van de Poele (BEL) will drive the BMW M3 with
which he became DTM champion in 1987. Then as now, another legendary
BMW driver will be by his side: Marc Hessel (GER). In 1987, van de
Poele and Hessel were the DTM youngsters and team-mates involved in a
thrilling battle for the title in the BMW Team Zakspeed. It was the
Belgian driver who came out on top at the season finale at the
Salzburgring (AUT). The historic BMW M3 will be appearing for Team 2.0
Automotive at Zolder. “My friend Marc got in touch a few weeks ago to
ask if I fancied driving the former Zakspeed BMW M3 with him again. Of
course, I thought this was a great idea,” says van de Poele. Hessel
explains: “The extremely emotional time at BMW, when we fought one
another for the DTM title, forged a strong bond between us. It’s
impossible not to reminisce about 1987. I am really looking forward to
appearing together at the Tourenwagen Classics and I am sure that we
will have a lot of fun.”