News

After two dream race weekends to kick off its involvement in the Blancpain Sprint Series, BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert failed to come away from the third round in Portimão (PT) with a top result for the first time. Dominik Baumann (AT) and Thomas Jäger (AT) finished 13th in both the qualifying race on Saturday and Sunday’s main race. 

On Saturday, the team was denied a far better result by an unfortunate spin while battling for position on the final lap of the race. Sunday’s race was compromised early on when the team suffered a puncture resulting from a collision after the start of the race. The subsequent pit stop cost Jäger and Baumann about a minute and, despite fighting back strongly, they were unable to climb back into the top ten. 

Stefan Wendl (Team Manager, Schubert Motorsport): “We knew that the weekend would come when we would not be stood on the podium for the first time. It came about this weekend because we did not get everything spot on. Above all, we are still too slow in qualifying. We must work on that, as it is important to start the race from a better position. A spin like the one Thomas suffered on Saturday is the sort of thing that can happen when battling for position. I do not blame him for that. We found ourselves well down the field on Sunday, but showed very good basic pace during our comeback. Our pit stops are getting faster and faster too. All this makes me optimistic about the coming race in Zolder.” 

Dominik Baumann: “The car was very good and I was able to lap quickly. However, we were simply too far back in Sunday’s race. Despite this, we gained valuable experience this weekend with regard to the set-up of the car, and this will hopefully help us to improve next time out.” 

Thomas Jäger: “I am obviously disappointed that things did not work out this time, after a win and a second place in the previous two races. It did not go to plan on Saturday or Sunday. However, even with perfect performances it would have been difficult to finish on the podium at this circuit, given the additional weight we were carrying after the win at the Slovakia Ring. We must now move on from this weekend and ensure that we do better next time.”