The Rolex 24 at Daytona presented many firsts for BMW driver and DTM champion Bruno Spengler. For the French born, Canadian driver, this race was actually his initial appearance racing at Daytona, his first 24-hour race (except for back in his karting days) as well as his first foray into the world of endurance racing.
His racing career started in karts, competing in both France and Canada. From there he took the usual open-wheeled racing path, moving through Formula Renault and into Formula 3. It was in F3 that his career hit a rough spot, as he was forced to sit out most of a season due to breaking his back in competition. When he returned, he again competed in F-3, but at the end of the 2004 season he was offered a DTM test, which led to a full season deal with the Persson Motorsports driving a Mercedes in the hugely popular series. In 2006, he was moved to HWG Racing, where he finished 2nd in the championship to perennial series champion Bernd Schneider. In the next 5 seasons, he finished 2nd, 5th, 4th, 3rd and again 3rd for Mercedes.
It was in 2012 that BMW made their return to the DTM, a series that they had long been associated with in earlier years. BMW, looking to make an immediate impact hired Bruno and their efforts were rewarded when he took the series championship in their first year back in the series. Bruno entered the season finale at Hockenheim trailing in the points, but by winning the race, he not just won the drivers title, but he helped Schnitzer and BMW win the Team and Manufacturer titles, in their first season back in the championship.
Since then, Bruno has stayed in the DTM, but when an opportunity came about to compete at Daytona, he jumped at the chance. Early in the event, Bruno said, “this is a totally new experience for me. The car, the track, the team, driving at night, it’s all new to me. The BMW Z4 is a good car to drive; it is different than my DTM spec BMW, but is still a good and fun car to drive. It did take a little time to acclimate, as what I’m used to is 200k lighter, has carbon brakes and much more downforce.”
Another thing that took Bruno awhile to adjust to was sharing the car with 3 other drivers. That is not something that he has had to do before. “Our engineer did a real good job in reaching a compromise for the 4 of us that would work. Bill Auberlen has been a great help too. It has been great to get to know him. He volunteered info easily and really has helped me get acclimated to this new challenge.”
“The banking the first time – I wasn’t really sure about it. I actually got a bit dizzy first time through, but I did get used to it pretty quickly. It was probably more of a difficult adjustment to deal with the traffic and the lack of tire warmers. It was in the coolness that I really began to appreciate the tire warmers that we use in the DTM.”
One thing that was new, but didn’t affect him that much was racing in the darkness, or in the case of here at Daytona, the semi-darkness. “They’ve got the light really nice around the track, but the bus stop was a bit dark and difficult to learn in the dark.”
In the race, the No. 25 BMW Z4 that Bruno shared with Auberlen, Augusto Farfus and Dirk Werner finished a strong second in the GTLM class finishing only .478 back after the 24 hours of running. That gap was closed late in the race due to a caution in the last 30 minutes, but it could have been so much closer if Bruno hadn’t had an off in the Bus Stop when dealing with traffic Sunday morning.
That off road excursion and a stop for repairs about 18 hours into the race thwarted their charge a bit, but it was a great effort for the entire Bobby Rahal led team. Bobby, “All the drivers did a great job in their respective cars. They did, frankly, everything we asked them to. We are getting closer every year. Maybe next time we’ll get to the top of the Daytona podium.”
After the race, Bruno reflected, “My first 24-hour race in a racing car and I finished second. I am very, very happy about that. I had to learn a lot of things here, especially getting used to the cold tires at night because I have driven for the past ten years with tire warmers. There were also so many cars around and I had to try and pass them without getting into trouble. It was a great experience. BMW Team RLL is a great team and I was proud to be involved with this effort. The mechanics did an amazing job.
“Jens Marquardt was here to support us and stayed up the whole night. Bobby coached us through the race and this was a great experience for me. I wish I had not done that little mistake trying to overtake. I took the two Corvettes at the restart quite quickly but then I was a little optimistic on my braking to try and overtake a PC class car as quick as possible to try and gain some time over the Corvettes. I guess that was a little bit of my sprint racer character trying to come out as I was a little bit young in endurance racing so I still have to learn, but I still managed to get back on track and then it ended up well. Dirk had an amazing drive and was putting pressure on the Corvette in front of us, but unfortunately there was not enough time to overtake but he did great. It was an amazing experience and I really hope I can do this again.”
While the opportunity for Bruno to return at Sebring is out because of the scheduled DTM testing, now with BMW Team METEK, you can probably count on seeing back in North America at some time.
Gary Horrocks
