12.06.2009

NEWS // TURKINGON AWARDED BMW SPORTS TROPHY

Colin Turkington has added a second BMW Sports Trophy title to the one he claimed in 2007. The 27-year-old, who won this season’s British Touring Car Championship in a BMW 320si WTCC, was presented with a winner’s cheque for 30,000 Euros by BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen at Saturday’s award ceremony in Munich. With the BMW Sports Trophy the brand has been supporting privateers on a worldwide scale since the 1960s... [read more]

The remaining places in the top three of the traditional BMW privateer competition went to Scandinavia: Richard Göransson, who won the BMW Sports Trophy in 2004, finished runner-up for the second year in a row. He was followed by his compatriot and fellow BMW driver from the Swedish Touring Car Championship, Thed Björk.

“The BMW Sports Trophy is becoming more and more popular,” said Theissen at the award ceremony in Munich’s “Kesselhaus” venue. “This year 198 drivers from 24 countries scored points towards the overall standings in 29 international racing series. As in 2007, Colin Turkington came through to win the trophy. His performance deserves the utmost respect: thanks to him a BMW driver has won the British Touring Car Championship for the first time since Joachim Winkelhock last achieved this feat 16 years ago. I would like to say a big thank you to all participants in the BMW Sports Trophy. Their performances in a diverse range of racing series around the world make them the best possible ambassadors to demonstrate the capability of our cars.”

Turkington celebrated six race victories in the 2009 BTCC, completing the biggest success of his career to date in a remarkable finale at Brands Hatch. The Northern Irishman, who scored 610 points in the BMW Sports Trophy, said: “Winning the BMW Sports Trophy is the perfect end to what has been a very successful season for me. BMW offers great support to us privateers, and I am pleased to be able to say thank you this year with the BTCC title.”

Göransson and Björk also left Munich with a handsome 25,000 Euros and 21,000 Euros respectively for their second and third places. Fourth place in the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) and successful starts in the VLN Endurance Championship gave Göransson a total of 488 points in the BMW Sports Trophy standings. Björk ended the STCC season in second, narrowly missing out on the title having finished on the same number of points as the eventual champion. The 28-year-old had 465 points to his name in the BMW Sports Trophy. This year’s total prize purse once again amounted to around 250,000 Euros.

Drivers from all over the world can enter the BMW Sports Trophy and score points with various BMW models in numerous series around the globe.

Editorial: BMW Motorsport
Photo: Neil Tozer

No comments:

Post a Comment