Tag Archives: Motorsport

BMW

BMW M Team WRT begins preparing for WEC with rollout and initial test drives of the BMW M Hybrid V8

The countdown has begun for the return of BMW M Motorsport to the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Last week, BMW M Team WRT successfully completed the first test drives with the BMW M Hybrid V8. The rollout of the test car for the 2024 WEC season took place at the BMW Group plant in Dingolfing, Germany.

The initial test drives were led by BMW M works driver Nick Yelloly, who has extensive experience with the BMW M Hybrid V8. Yelloly previously raced with the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the North American IMSA series, where the vehicle has already achieved success this season. The BMW M Team RLL, including Yelloly and teammate Connor De Phillippi, celebrated their first IMSA win with the BMW M Hybrid V8 at Watkins Glen, USA.

Following the functional test, the BMW M Hybrid V8 underwent three days of test drives at Aragón, Spain. The car performed without any problems, allowing the team to gather valuable data. BMW works drivers Jesse Krohn, Maxime Martin, Sheldon van der Linde, and Dries Vanthoor took turns behind the wheel. Additional functional tests were conducted by the members of the BMW Junior Team and BMW works drivers Dan Harper and Max Hesse.

In the upcoming weeks and months, BMW M Team WRT will continue to carry out numerous tests to prepare for the start of the FIA WEC season in 2024. The goal is to have as many BMW works drivers as possible providing feedback to the engineers.

Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, expressed his satisfaction with the test kickoff, stating that it was a successful start to their WEC preparation. He thanked everyone involved in making it possible and emphasized the motivation to continue working hard throughout the rest of the year.

Vincent Vosse, Team Principal of BMW M Team WRT, described the test as a big step and a dream come true for the team. He expressed confidence in their partnership with BMW and praised the team’s hard work in preparing the car. Vosse thanked everyone involved and looked forward to the preparation for the 2024 season.

Jesse Krohn, a BMW M works driver, shared his excitement about the test and his first outing in a prototype. He praised the WRT team’s working methods and teamwork, describing it as one of the smoothest tests of his career. Krohn expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to contribute to the program and gather important data.

BMW

Sheldon van der Linde and Schubert Motorsport Achieve DTM Podium Finish in Zandvoort

Zandvoort. The 2023 DTM season saw its first podium finish for the BMW M4 GT3, with Sheldon van der Linde and Schubert Motorsport securing second place in the first of two races in Zandvoort (NED). In the second race, Marco Wittmann from the Project 1 team fought hard for a podium spot but ultimately finished fourth by a narrow margin. Dries Vanthoor, standing in for René Rast at Schubert Motorsport, also had a solid performance, securing a top-ten finish in the opening race. This event took place at the dune circuit in Zandvoort, marking the second event of the season.

The weekend started well with a promising first qualifying session on Saturday morning. Van der Linde and Wittmann secured second and third fastest times, respectively, giving them good starting positions for race one. Vanthoor qualified 16th.

In race one, van der Linde posed the biggest challenge to Maro Engel, the eventual winner from the Mercedes team. Van der Linde’s impressive performance earned him second place, securing his first podium of the season. Wittmann initially stayed close to van der Linde but dropped two positions after the pit stop. He finished fifth, his best result of the season so far. Vanthoor showed determination, starting from 16th on the grid and finishing ninth in the #33 BMW M4 GT3.

The second qualifying session on Sunday was disrupted by two crashes, causing the remaining three minutes to become unpredictable. Wittmann qualified seventh for race two, Vanthoor 14th, and van der Linde had to settle for 17th position.

Wittmann and van der Linde demonstrated their skills in race two, thrilling spectators with daring overtakes and impressive comebacks. Wittmann fought his way to fifth place and climbed to fourth after the pit stop. He continued battling for a podium spot until the end, narrowly missing the top three. Nevertheless, fourth place was his best result of the season. Van der Linde climbed from 17th to tenth place. Unfortunately, Vanthoor had to retire due to a puncture caused by a collision at the start. The race was won by Ricardo Feller from Audi.

The third race weekend of the 2023 DTM will take place from 7th to 9th July at the Norisring (GER).

Reactions from the DTM weekend in Zandvoort:

Sheldon van der Linde (BMW M4 GT3, Schubert Motorsport): “I am thrilled to be back on the podium yesterday, which was definitely the highlight of our season so far. It was unexpected, which makes it even sweeter. This result puts us back in the championship mix, although it’s still early days. It demonstrates that we have a strong package and motivates us to strive for more podium finishes. I can’t wait for Norisring in two weeks.”

Marco Wittmann (BMW M4 GT3, Project 1): “It was a much better weekend for us compared to the season opener in Oschersleben. We collected some good points with fifth and fourth place finishes. As a new team, we need to keep working hard to challenge for podiums and be at the front. Our battles in the races showed that we have found a positive race pace with a great balance and setup. There are areas where we still need to improve, but overall, it was a step forward with two strong results. We fought hard and gave it our all.”

Dries Vanthoor (BMW M4 GT3, Schubert Motorsport): “Overall, it was a fun weekend, and I was delighted to make my DTM debut. While the results weren’t what we expected, we did our best to fine-tune the car for my performance. It’s challenging to join a different racing series and team and immediately deliver a good performance. However, we had a fantastic race yesterday, coming back from 16th to 9th. Unfortunately, today’s qualifying was disrupted, forcing us to start from the back. I suffered an early puncture due to a touch in the race, but that’s part of racing. I had a great time working with the team and enjoyed the weekend with Sheldon.”

Motorsport

Watch New Forza Motorsport Trailer, Game Releases On October 10

UPDATE: An earlier version of this story referred to the game as Forza Motorsport 7. This is incorrect. It is just Forza Motorsport.

The latest trailer for Forza Motorsport premiered during the Xbox Games Showcase during the 2023 Summer Games Fest. This new video focuses on the partnership with General Motors for highlighting the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray and the Cadillac Racing V-Series.R LMDh racer for the new entry in the franchise. October 10, 2023, is the newly unveiled release date.

The Chevy and Cadillac will be the vehicles gracing the cover of Forza Motorsport. The video begins with the V-Series.R on the track competing with other race cars. Then, it quickly transitions to showing the E-Ray in the Home view where players can enter races and select different vehicles. 

Next, there’s more racing with a circuit showing Eaglerock Speedway on the walls. The course appears to have an oval layout, which would work for stock car-style events.

The next course on display seems to be the Suzuka Circuit. Later, there’s a brief glimpse of what looks to be the famous Eau Rouge corner from the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. A short snippet also appears to show a bit from the Le Mans track.

This short trailer isn’t our last look at Forza Motorsport before the game’s launch. There will be a walkthrough of the single-player career campaign on June 13 (announcement below).

 

Forza Motorsport will launch with over 500 cars, and over 100 of them will be completely new to the game. Plus, developer Turn 10 Studios will pack the roster with more racing-specific machines than ever before. If that won’t provide enough to pick from, there will be over 800 upgrades available for vehicle customization.

Of course, these cars would be useless without a place to race. Forza Motorsport has 20 places to race, five of which are new to the series. An earlier clip revealed two of them: Hakone in Japan and the Kyalami circuit in South Africa.

The graphics should be better than ever, too. The developers promise the ability to play in a 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, and that’s with ray tracing to create even more realistic lighting effects. A new time-of-day function allows players to start a race during the day and have the event transition into the night. For better sound, the game supports Dolby Atmos, which adds a layer of height to the noise in addition to the usual left-to-right projection.

The new game will have additional driving assists to be more accessible to users. For example, Blind Driving Assists help blind players or those with low vision. It adds more audio cues to help users navigate tracks without needing to see everything. One Touch Driving aids folks who have issues with pressing multiple buttons simultaneously, gripping a controller, or maintaining button pressure.

The video below is from June 2022 and shows more of the gameplay.

BMW

BMW M Motorsport News, 6th June 2023

The BMW M Motorsport teams were busy last weekend, participating in events across Europe, Asia, and North America. BMW M Team Studie achieved its first victory of the season in the GT300 class of the Japanese Super GT Championship. The BMW M4 GT3, driven by Seiji Ara and Masataka Yanagida, won the 450km race held at Suzuka, after the race was suspended due to a crash by Nissan driver Tsugio Matsuda. The BMW team opted for an early pit stop, which helped them to claim the lead when the race was stopped. Matsuda suffered injuries but was not majorly hurt.

In the GT4 European Series, BMW M4 GT4 earned a spot on the podium. The Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport duo of Gabriele Piana and Michael Schrey, started from pole position on Sunday and finished second in the chaotic closing stages of the race held at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France. Berkay Besler and Tom Edgar battled their way back to fourth place, but were later given a 43-second penalty due to a rules violation. In the race held on Saturday, Besler and Edgar were the best-placed BMW pairing in seventh. Meanwhile, Victor Bouveng and Joakim Walde from M-Bilar Racing won the Pro-Am class in the BMW M4 GT4 and finished third in their class on Sunday.

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge was hosted in Detroit on Saturday, where Turner Motorsport faced a scary moment when Robert Megennis crashed their BMW M4 GT4 spectacularly, taking off and skidding over the roof of a rival’s car before hitting the safety fence. Fortunately, both drivers were unharmed. The second Turner duo of Robby Foley and Vincent Barletta finished ninth in the #96 car, while the BMW M4 GT4 of Stephen Cameron Racing finished 17th.

In the world of virtual racing, BMW drivers and teams shone at the race weekend in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS (GTWC) at Le Castellet. Neil Verhagen and Dries Vanthoor achieved great results in the Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series, winning for the BMW M Team WRT and ROWE Racing team, respectively. Calan Williams won the sim race in his category with the Gold Cup car for the WRT team. BMW M Team BS+COMPETITION’s Arthur Kammerer and Gregor Schill had a strong performance in the SRO Esports Sim Pro Series. The BMW M SIM Cup held its fifth round at the Watkins Glen circuit on the iRacing platform, with Team Redline winning the GT3 class and Team Apex Racing Academy clinching the victory in the GTP class.

Jesse Krohn, BMW M works driver, was a guest starter for the Century Motorsport team in the GT Cup Championship at Snetterton, helping his team-mate and British GT driver Darren Leung to better understand the BMW M4 GT3. They finished with two third-places and two fifth-places. In the British Touring Car Championship, Adam Morgan finished runner-up for Team BMW and claimed one podium in three races while fellow BMW drivers had a series of strong results.

BMW

BMW Motorrad Motorsport Ready for WorldSBK at Misano

After a month-long break, BMW Motorrad Motorsport is heading to Misano in Italy for round five of the FIM Superbike World Championship 2023 (WorldSBK) from 2nd to 4th June. The ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, with Scott Redding and Tom Sykes, and the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team of Garrett Gerloff and Loris Baz had a productive two-day test at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli three weeks ago to prepare for the upcoming races.

The BMW M 1000 RR riders had different programmes at the Misano test for their individual requirements. They compared components, worked on geometry and weight distribution, and Scott and Garrett focused on these aspects. Tom Sykes is stepping in for Michael van der Mark, who is currently injured. According to Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director, the test was good preparation for the coming races, with BMW riders well equipped.

Quotes Ahead of the Misano Round

Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director, said that the team’s goal is to perform well with both teams and all four riders at Misano. He wants to convert their hard work into good results and is confident that Loris Baz will be stronger at Misano after his weigh-in test, which was about getting a feel for the bike after his leg injury. He also gave Tom the opportunity to get familiarized with the BMW M RR and Michael’s crew.

Garrett Gerloff is looking forward to the Misano event and showing off what he can do on Friday. It’s a track he enjoys, and he mentioned that the team had a test a few weeks ago, so they feel they are in a good place for the setup. Scott Redding is also happy about the weekend, and he hopes they can make improvements from Barcelona where they tried different setup changes. Tom Sykes said he’s excited to compete for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and looks forward to heading to Misano, where the circuit always produces great racing. Loris Baz said he’s finally feeling 100% going into this race, and it feels good. He stated that he loves going to Misano and that he’s confident heading into the race.

Track Facts for Misano

Track Facts Misano.

Circuit length

4.226 km – clockwise

Corners

16 – 10 right-handers, 6 left-handers

Pole position

Right

Longest straight

510 metres (start-finish straight)

Grip level

Medium

Track layout

Several long straights, partly fast corners, hard braking zones

Strain on brakes

Medium

Amount at full throttle

30 %

Top speed / lowest speed

276 km/h / 55 km/h

Best overtaking opportunity

T1, T8

Key factors

Good feeling on the brakes, stability, traction
BMW

BMW M Motorsport Struggles in the Season Opener at Oschersleben

The BMW M Motorsport team had a tough start to their title defence in the DTM season opener at Oschersleben in Germany. Despite their best efforts, the BMW M4 GT3 was unable to compete for top positions, making it difficult to make up positions on the tight circuit where overtaking is challenging.

The best results for BMW M Motorsport came from Schubert Motorsport at their home race, with René Rast finishing fifth on Saturday and Sheldon van der Linde, the reigning DTM champion, finishing eleventh on Sunday. Marco Wittmann, on the other hand, retired from both races.

Schubert Motorsport used the race weekend to treat their guests to a diverse programme of events off the racetrack, including the handover of a limited-edition BMW M4 DTM Champion Edition to van der Linde by the team’s principal, Torsten Schubert, BMW M CEO Franciscus van Meel, and Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos. The Champion Edition, based on a BMW M4 Competition, boasts a special design inspired by the colours of van der Linde’s BMW M4 GT3.

Andreas Roos, the Head of BMW M Motorsport, acknowledged that the Oschersleben race was not the start to the season that they had hoped for. He assured that they would analyse the data and prepare for the next race weekend at Zandvoort, particularly taking a closer look at the damage to René Rast’s car.

René Rast was pleased with his performance, managing to match the pace of van der Linde and Wittmann during Saturday’s qualifying session and finishing fifth on the race debut as a BMW M works driver. Sheldon van der Linde acknowledged that it was a difficult weekend for the team, and they needed to work on their qualifying performance. Marco Wittmann lamented the disadvantage caused by his car’s top speed and the penalty that impacted his chances of scoring points.