A victorious Marco Wittmann crosses the finish line in the Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM at Misano.

2019-06-10 | Herzogenaurach

• The success story continues: Marco Wittmann claims his second DTM victory with the Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM at Misano on Saturday.
• Spectacular comeback from last to first place with the Green Machine.
• Matthias Zink: “Marco gave himself the perfect present to mark his 100th race.”

Schaeffler and BMW M Motorsport continue to enjoy great success together in the 2019 DTM season. Marco Wittmann took win number two in the Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM at the third race weekend of the year.

A technical issue in qualifying meant Wittmann was forced to start Saturday’s race from the back row of the grid. However, the combination of a perfect strategy, a flawless drive and a little bit of luck in the form of a safety car phase allowed him to fight back to claim his 13th victory in the DTM. On Sunday, Wittmann contested his 100th race in the DTM, being forced to retire due to no fault of his own after an early accident. The two-time champion now lies fourth in the Drivers‘ Championship with 68 points.

Matthias Zink: “It was his fighting spirit that carried him to victory.”

Matthias Zink, CEO Automotive OEM Schaeffler, sent his congratulations from Herzogenaurach: “Congratulations to Marco Wittmann on his second win of the season in the Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM – and, of course, on reaching another milestone on Sunday. He showed once again at Misano what, over the past 100 races, has made him one of the most successful drivers in the DTM. We all know about his excellent driving, but it was primarily his fighting spirit that carried him to victory on Saturday. He gave himself the perfect present to mark his 100th race.”

Wittmann said: “It was a special weekend for me, in many regards. We had a fantastic race on Saturday. After the misfortune in both races at Zolder, Lady Luck was finally on our side again. We stopped early, without knowing for certain whether we could complete the full race on just one set of tyres. The final five or six laps were obviously critical, but it worked out in the end and we won the race. I’d like to thank my team: That was simply superb! I then had my 100th race in the DTM on Sunday. That kind of statistic does not mean an awful lot to me, however, it does show how at home I feel in this series. It was a shame we couldn’t collect more points in race 2.”

Nuremberg hosts the next two DTM races of the year on 6th and 7th July. The weekend at the Norisring will be the home DTM event for both Schaeffler and Marco Wittmann.