BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt had announced at the 2015 Season Review that the same eight drivers would compete in the BMW M4 DTM in 2016 as did last year, in the form of Bruno Spengler (CA), Marco Wittmann (DE), António Félix da Costa (PT), Timo Glock (DE), Augusto Farfus (BR), Tom Blomqvist (GB), Maxime Martin (BE) and Martin Tomczyk (DE).
It has now been confirmed which teams the drivers will race for. Only at BMW Team Schnitzer does the pairing of Félix da Costa and Tomczyk remain unchanged. Meanwhile, changes have been made at each of the other three teams. Glock switches from BMW Team MTEK to BMW Team RMG, where he will drive alongside Wittmann. The pair were team-mates at BMW Team MTEK back in 2013. Farfus takes Glock’s place at BMW Team MTEK, where he joins Spengler. This move sees the Brazilian leave BMW Team RBM after many successful years together. Martin moves across to team principal Bart Mampaey’s Belgian (BE) outfit, where he is the new team-mate of Blomqvist.
“We have a very strong and stable squad of drivers, which showed outstanding team spirit in the battle for the Manufacturers’ title last season,” said Marquardt. “Therefore, we had no need to change our squad. However, it has always been our philosophy to create new impulses by systematically varying the line-ups within our four DTM teams, and thus to get the absolute maximum out of our overall package. We have had very good experiences in this regard. Because of this, we are confident that we will achieve success again with the changes for the coming season. Augusto Farfus, Timo Glock and Maxime Martin have proven that they are among the best in the DTM and that they are capable of winning races. They now face new challenges, which will hopefully help them take another step forward in their development.”
This is the first time in the DTM careers of Farfus, Glock and Martin that the trio have switched teams. Farfus spent four years driving for BMW Team RBM, with whom he had previously enjoyed success in the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). Farfus won three DTM races in 2013, ending the year as runner-up in the Drivers’ Championship. Glock joined the DTM and has been a permanent part of BMW Team MTEK since then. He won one race for team principal Ernest Knoors (NL) and his crew in both 2013 and 2015.
Glock lined up alongside Wittmann in his debut year, and joins forces with the 2014 champion again at BMW Team RMG in 2016. Martin won one race in each of his two years after joining the DTM with Stefan Reinhold’s (DE) team, with whom he won the Team title in 2014. The Belgian now switches to his compatriots at BMW Team RBM.
An overview of the driver pairings for the 2016 DTM season:
BMW Team RMG:
#11 Marco Wittmann
#16 Timo Glock
BMW Team MTEK:
#7 Bruno Spengler
#18 Augusto Farfus
BMW Team RBM:
#31 Tom Blomqvist
#36 Maxime Martin
BMW Team Schnitzer:
#13 António Félix da Costa
#77 Martin Tomczyk
BMW Press Kit