BMW Motorsport Party 2007 - Grand finale in Munich.
Around 600 international guests were joined by the BMW drivers
and BMW Motorsport management to see out the 2007 season in
style with a party and presentation of trophies at BMW's home
base on Saturday.
"This event is primarily our way of saying thank you
to the drivers, teams, sponsors and journalists who have been
with us at the race tracks throughout the year," explains
BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. "This time we
have gathered outside our own front door to make use of BMW
Welt, our new car delivery centre."
That is where the assembled crowd, which included the 2007
BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica,
World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx and his WTCC colleagues
Jörg Müller, Alessandro Zanardi, Félix Porteiro
and Fredrik Ekblom, moved to late in the evening.
Prior to that, the traditional Sports Trophy presentation
for BMW privateer drivers from around the world took place
at the Dinner held in the Olympic Ice Sport Centre. During
the presentation ceremony, Theissen also expressed his thanks
to Hans-Joachim Stuck, who has for many years been a successful
BMW driver and brand ambassador and is now taking up a new
challenge.
Christmas magic and ice carving.
In the afternoon, the drivers and motorsport management manned
the stalls of a specially built Christmas market at BMW Welt.
Even Mario Theissen and Willy Rampf, Technical Director of
the BMW Sauber F1 Team, could be seen diligently serving up
grilled sausages and mulled wine.
The squad members had to demonstrate their skills not only
as hosts at the Christmas market, but as wielders of the hacksaw
as well during a stint of ice carving. Divided into three
teams, their challenge was to transform three blocks of ice
into a helmet, a car wheel and the BMW "propeller"
logo. A rather less than brilliant result was ultimately honed
into the desired sculptures by the professionals. The audience
had a fun time and a chance to pick up some autographs.
BMW Sports Trophy 2007.
Almost double the participants - BTCC driver takes first
place.
Interest has swelled yet again: in 2007 a total of 98 privateer
drivers - almost twice as many as in the previous year - signed
up for the traditional BMW Sports Trophy. Simultaneously,
the field competing for the pot of prize money worth a quarter
of a million euros took on a more international flavour: the
first 25 drivers to be honoured, and who received prize money,
hail from 11 different countries. In 2007, most of the points
in the intricate rating system of the Sports Trophy were claimed
by British driver Colin Turkington.
BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen welcomes the contest's
rising popularity: "It reflects the competitiveness of
the extended BMW product range for private touring car involvement.
I have tremendous respect for the teams and drivers who make
their mark worldwide in the most diverse categories without
any works support. With their BMW 320is, 320i, 120d and Z4
M Coupé models they are important ambassadors of our
brand."
25-year-old Turkington from Northern Ireland drove his BMW
320si for Team RAC and took the Independents' Trophy in the
British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). He also competed
successfully in the World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC)
races at Brands Hatch and in the final in Macau. During the
BMW Motorsport Party, Turkington was delighted to receive
a cheque to the value of 30,000 euros.
Second place (25,000 euros) went to an old familiar face:
Swedish driver Fredrik Ekblom won the Swedish Touring Car
Championship (STCC) for the third time in 2007 after his triumphs
in 1998 and 2003. The 37-year-old was also driving a BMW 320si
and contested six WTCC races for BMW Team UK - RBM in Anderstorp,
Monza and Macau alongside team-mate and three-times World
Champion Andy Priaulx. The factory-backed WTCC races, however,
do not count towards the Sports Trophy.
Third place went to another Swede, 29-year-old Richard Göransson.
He won the Sports Trophy in 2004, and this time round took
home 21,000 euros for finishing in third slot. Göransson
concluded the 2007 Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC)
in third place, having already clinched the championship in
his home country in 2004 and 2005. The season just past also
saw him contesting races in the BMW Z4 M Coupé next
to Claudia Hürtgen and Johannes Stuck in the Long-Distance
Championship on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. With reinforcement
from Hans-Joachim Stuck, the crew also managed to secure a
class win in the 24-hour race.
Special trophies were presented in Munich to national touring
car champion Fariq Bin Hairuman, winner of the Asian Championship
(ATCC) in a BMW 320i, and the duo Patrick Belien/Dimitri Cayvers,
who jointly won the Belgian Championship in a BMW 120d.
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