After numerous achievements in endurance racing: DTM sprint format as a challenge
Experience a strength: 300,000 to 400,000 km with the BMW M6 GT3
Season in junior race series DTM Trophy important for DTM entry
Munich/Melle (19 March 2021). The Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW team is one of the new entrants in the 2021 DTM. However, the team from Melle near Osnabrück isn’t planning for a brief intermezzo. Instead, it is pursuing a specific plan for at least three years. With principal Henry Walkenhorst at the helm, the team has already been successful in GT3 racing since 2013 already, its achievements including victory in the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps and recently the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) title win. As a result, Walkenhorst is particularly relying on its vast experience. “After all, we have already racked up between 300,000 and 400,000 kilometres with the BMW M6 GT3,” as team manager Niclas Königbauer points out in an extensive interview with the DTM.com web portal. The team will announce its driver line-up at a later stage.
Until then, preparations for the DTM entry are in full swing. “DTM is the strongest platform, but a different format from the endurance races in which we have been successful for years. In DTM, there are sprint races, which is a new and exciting challenge for us,” as Niclas Königbauer underlines. “Our engineers are already pondering over possible set-up configurations. Some exciting tracks are waiting for us like the Norisring that we don’t know yet.”
Compared to endurance races, the DTM’s DNA of one car, one driver is a considerable change. Niclas Königbauer also has respect for the competition. “We know the GT3 environment pretty well, but we assume that the teams will be leaving no stone unturned for DTM to squeeze the last tiny little bit out. Competition definitely will be very strong.”
Still, the DTM platform isn’t fully uncharted territory for Walkenhorst Motorsport. In 2020, the team ran a pair of BMW M4s in the junior race series DTM Trophy and ended up third in the final drivers’ standings with Briton Ben Tuck. “That was an important year of us. We got to know and appreciate the DTM environment, the procedures and the organisation. We felt comfortable from the first race onwards and for us, it was fun, too.” This season, Walkenhorst is making good use of the synergies and will be involved both in DTM and in the DTM Trophy. “We are planning for the longer term and this also includes grooming our own junior drivers.”