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BMW Motorsport Party 2007

Grand finale in Munich

Around 600 international guests were joined by the BMW drivers and BMW Motorsport management to see out the 2007 season in style with a party and presentation of trophies at BMW's home base on Saturday.

"This event is primarily our way of saying thank you to the drivers, teams, sponsors and journalists who have been with us at the race tracks throughout the year," explains BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. "This time we have gathered outside our own front door to make use of BMW Welt, our new car delivery centre."

That is where the assembled crowd, which included the 2007 BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx and his WTCC colleagues Jörg Müller, Alessandro Zanardi, Félix Porteiro and Fredrik Ekblom, moved to late in the evening.

Prior to that, the traditional Sports Trophy presentation for BMW privateer drivers from around the world took place at the Dinner held in the Olympic Ice Sport Centre. During the presentation ceremony, Theissen also expressed his thanks to Hans-Joachim Stuck, who has for many years been a successful BMW driver and brand ambassador and is now taking up a new challenge.

Christmas magic and ice carving.

In the afternoon, the drivers and motorsport management manned the stalls of a specially built Christmas market at BMW Welt. Even Mario Theissen and Willy Rampf, Technical Director of the BMW Sauber F1 Team, could be seen diligently serving up grilled sausages and mulled wine.

The squad members had to demonstrate their skills not only as hosts at the Christmas market, but as wielders of the hacksaw as well during a stint of ice carving. Divided into three teams, their challenge was to transform three blocks of ice into a helmet, a car wheel and the BMW "propeller" logo. A rather less than brilliant result was ultimately honed into the desired sculptures by the professionals. The audience had a fun time and a chance to pick up some autographs.

Press contact: Jörg Kottmeier, tel. +49 (0) 89 - 382 23401, joerg.kottmeier@bmw.de. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Picture material of the afternoon event is available for downloading at www.press.bmwgroup.com. Click on Motorsport english, Photo, 2007, Miscellaneous (pop-ups should be allowed).

BMW Sports Trophy 2007.

Almost double the participants - BTCC driver takes first place.

Munich, 1st December 2007. Interest has swelled yet again: in 2007 a total of 98 privateer drivers - almost twice as many as in the previous year - signed up for the traditional BMW Sports Trophy. Simultaneously, the field competing for the pot of prize money worth a quarter of a million euros took on a more international flavour: the first 25 drivers to be honoured, and who received prize money, hail from 11 different countries. In 2007, most of the points in the intricate rating system of the Sports Trophy were claimed by British driver Colin Turkington.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen welcomes the contest's rising popularity: "It reflects the competitiveness of the extended BMW product range for private touring car involvement. I have tremendous respect for the teams and drivers who make their mark worldwide in the most diverse categories without any works support. With their BMW 320is, 320i, 120d and Z4 M Coupé models they are important ambassadors of our brand."

25-year-old Turkington from Northern Ireland drove his BMW 320si for Team RAC and took the Independents' Trophy in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). He also competed successfully in the World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC) races at Brands Hatch and in the final in Macau. During the BMW Motorsport Party, Turkington was delighted to receive a cheque to the value of 30,000 euros.

Second place (25,000 euros) went to an old familiar face: Swedish driver Fredrik Ekblom won the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) for the third time in 2007 after his triumphs in 1998 and 2003. The 37-year-old was also driving a BMW 320si and contested six WTCC races for BMW Team UK - RBM in Anderstorp, Monza and Macau alongside team-mate and three-times World Champion Andy Priaulx. The factory-backed WTCC races, however, do not count towards the Sports Trophy.

Third place went to another Swede, 29-year-old Richard Göransson. He won the Sports Trophy in 2004, and this time round took home 21,000 euros for finishing in third slot. Göransson concluded the 2007 Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) in third place, having already clinched the championship in his home country in 2004 and 2005. The season just past also saw him contesting races in the BMW Z4 M Coupé next to Claudia Hürtgen and Johannes Stuck in the Long-Distance Championship on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. With reinforcement from Hans-Joachim Stuck, the crew also managed to secure a class win in the 24-hour race.

Special trophies were presented in Munich to national touring car champion Fariq Bin Hairuman, winner of the Asian Championship (ATCC) in a BMW 320i, and the duo Patrick Belien/Dimitri

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