BMW Motorsport honoured one of the longest standing members of the Marc VDS family at their end of season dinner. Markus Palttala, who has been with the team for five years, earned the prestigious BMW Sports Trophy award, beating off competition from more than 1000 other drivers.
“The idea is to rank all the drivers worldwide who are racing a BMW,” says the Finn, who lives in Belgium. “Touring cars, GT cars, all over. They give points on various scales for all the results, and the driver with the most points is awarded this trophy. It’s pretty crazy – 1400 drivers scored points this year, and I came out on top, so it’s pretty awesome. It’s a pretty cool thing. Being there in Munich on Friday, getting the trophy, it was a special moment. You have big guys there, so it’s highly appreciated.”
Among those 1400 drivers were several national champions, including the British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington and TUSC GTD champion – and Palttala’s teammate in America – Dane Cameron. The prize includes the chance to drive the 2014 BMW M4 DTM – a fairly exciting prospect, even for a seasoned driver who’s driven some of the most fearsome machinery GT racing’s had to offer.
“The first thing I thought was ‘Ah, it’s awesome to be the best privateer BMW driver’, then a second later I thought ‘F**king hell, I get to drive a DTM car!’ I think both are pretty cool things. The DTM test, last Tuesday, was a cool day. What I really liked about it was that there were so many kids, from single seaters and GT and things, all these champions there, looking for a job, and I’m there to have fun. I was probably the most relaxed driver in the paddock there! They gave me a really good run in the car and I got to enjoy it properly – it was an awesome day.”
“I would like to congratulate Markus on winning the 2014 BMW Sports Trophy,” says Jens Marquardt, head of BMW Motorsport. “He’s been hugely successful this season, both in America and in Europe. He is a genuine all-rounder, who feels just at home in the USCC as he does at the endurance classic. He more than deserves the winner’s trophy, prize money and his laps in the BMW M4 DTM.”
It’s just one peak in a series of highs with Marc VDS, that started in late 2009.
“My first season with Marc VDS was 2010,” he explains. “The end of 2009 was the time the GT1 World Championship was starting, and I was a couple of teams to do that championship. It came through a mutual friend – Michael Bartholemy, who now runs the MotoGP team – who had just started with Marc VDS. We live almost as neighbours, and he told me that it might be worth talking to these guys. I did, we did a test, and I signed! I wanted to be in GT1 World, and I had a couple of options but I went with Marc VDS. I saw that it might be something for the long term, and next year we start our sixth season together!”
Right from the start, Palttala’s ambitions with the team were long term, wanting to start a long-term relationship.
“I would say that back then, joining the team, I knew that I could have been with an arguably stronger team for that first season, or at least a much more experienced one. I think it’s also a great challenge to join a new team and start it up. It’s amazing how it’s progressed. It progressed very quickly actually – I mean, the first year in GT1, we won the 1000km race at Spa. The second year, the team won races in GT1 and we won races in Blancpain. It quickly developed into a race winning team, later a championship winning team, and now as a works supported team. It’s just crazy how strong it has become. If it isn’t the best GT team in Europe, it’s pretty close.”
With so many years and so many races, it’s hard to pick highlights, but if he’s forced…
“The first win was special – 1000km Spa 2010 – because it was an international, well known championship and a classic event, and it was the first year for the team, and my first win for the team. It’s a home race, a huge race and it’s very special. There were so many firsts that weekend! A year later, when I first sat in the Z4 GT3, when we switched to BMW mid season… I’d sat in that car for the first time that week, and we won in Magny Cours. That’s also really special. All the wins have been special, in Blancpain, ELMS this year… Everything is awesome. Spa this year goes quite high too, but it was a disappointment as well. It was a home race, a big race and we fought right until the end and got so close. There are so many highlights, and it’s nearly impossible to choose. If you forced me… I’d take the first win.”
In 2014, Palttala raced both the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and Spa this season with BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS, earning a stand-out podium at Spa. He also took on the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship with Turner Motorsport and their BMW Z4 GT3, who have a good relationship with Marc VDS.
“I had, I think, 27 race weekends this year, seven wins, more than 10 podiums… it was a very successful year! With a year like that it’s easy to find highlights. The ELMS win and the second in Spa, with Marc VDS, were very special, and obviously the four wins in the USA, where I helped Turner Motorsport and Dane Cameron win titles. Turner is something that came to me through Marc VDS. It was my Blancpain car from 2012, and I got a contact for Daytona and counted on doing one race there, and then it became almost the full season. I did ten weekends there, we won the team title and my teammate won the drivers’ title. I missed the title because I had to miss one race, to be at the 24 Hours of Spa. That’s a really good reason to miss a race, I reckon! I have to look back at this season as one of my best.”
Despite only doing a handful of races with the team, he’s quick to point out where his priorities lie.
“I had a short year with Marc VDS, with just the 24 hour races and a couple of VLN events, but it was always the priority,” he says. “I just have to say thank you to Marc van der Straten. We have some ups and downs in these five years, but he’s always made clear that I’m one of his trusted drivers, and I can’t thank him enough for this. Where we are now, as a team, it’s where every single race driver in the world wants to be. I’m very lucky with that and I have to thank Marc for his confidence. I guess the best way I can thank him is to be successful – and I’m glad I could do that for him this year!”