Defending champion Marco Wittmann was on course to take his first win since last year’s race one at the Nürburgring, but felt that even with a third place finish, he classed the result as “disappointing,” after fighting hard against the Mercedes pair of race winner Robert Wickens and Paul di Resta.
“We had a good first stint. Just before the pit stop, I was able to overtake Robert Wickens, move back into first place and extend my lead. I felt pretty good in the car,” said the 27-year-old, who is now fourth in the standings on 111 points.
After his mandatory pitstop, the Team RMG driver was battling to overtake Wickens to try and move closer to taking the win, but contact between the pair at turn one compromised the remainder of his race.
“My car was damaged and I had some graining on the front tyres. I wasn’t able to maintain the pace,” admitted Wittmann.
“It is a bit disappointing to finish third after starting from pole position, but at the end of the day, we scored some important points.”
Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt admitted that the focus for BMW is to now concentrate on the next encounter at the Red Bull Ring in a fortnight’s time, even with a significant points haul in the second race.
“Marco Wittmann probably could not have done better than third place today under the given cirumstances. He damaged the front of the car trying to overtake Robert Wickens and struggled with understeer afterwards. Overall it was a hard race – sometimes too hard. We will carry on pushing.”