Henning Putzke says ‘crazy idea’ proved to be a success

Henning Putzke, Managing Director of BMW Group Hungary labeled the creation of BMW Team Hungary with EfficientDynamics a ‘crazy idea’ following their victory in the D2 class at the 12H Hungaroring. After the squad claimed 6th in the overall classification Putzke said BMW Group Hungary will do everything to return to Nordschleife.

It was a restless last hour of the 12H Hungaroring in the pit garage as BMW Group Hungary’s Managing Director, Henning Putzke was watching the developments of the race. His team had ruled the D2 category since the beginning but for the last hour, Schubert Motorsport 2’s BMW 320d came quite close which made Putzke getting nervous.

“Yes, I watched the timing monitor and after 11 hours we had a 4.3-4.5 second gap to the other car but we knew that they still have to refuel, so the tactic was fine and the last hour we finally confirmed,” said Putzke to Misu Racing right after the checkered flag.

The last hour of the competition brought unexpected excitements for the teams as a mechanical failure and the rain in the last laps triggered back to back Code 60 phases that benefited BMW Team Hungary with EfficientDynamics. At first they carried out the pit stop with tyre and driver changes without losing much time to the competitors, then the gap got frozen for the last two laps as the race came to its end under caution. Even Putzke went to the pit wall and the barriers to congratulate Csaba Walter who brought the car home.

“It is a confirmation for what we started in February as a crazy idea finally has come to a success. For us, for all team, for everyone it is a great feeling” Henning Putzke,
Managing Director of BMW Group Hungary

“It is a confirmation for what we started in February as a crazy idea finally has come to a success. For us, for all team, for everyone it is a great feeling”, said Putzke at the Hungaroring. “First of all, we made the right decision to do it with the right people. Then we can confirm that out of what we have done as a crazy idea finally started up as a success. Having that confirmed we created something that finally now in this race got confirmed could be a success. What is a challenge is to see what is coming next year,” he summarized.

According to Putzke, he is fully satisfied with the 2009 performance of the team and he rated the participation of BMW Team Hungary with EfficientDynamics as useful for the BMW brand. Concerning the current economic situation, he was careful to take a monetary approach but he thought that the team managed to successfully transmit the messages of the company.

“You cannot measure (the success) money-wise. You cannot say like in the past, ‘we win on Sunday and sell on Monday’. But I think that the main aim for us was to show the possibilities what EfficientDynamics can do, and I think that this night is one of the confirmations of that this strategy and this concept is working. Have a look, a 4-cylinder 2 liter turbo engine can beat – I don’t say the names but – just have a look at the list of which cars and which brands we beat. That was our message; that was our investment to show, this technology, the EfficientDynamics.”

The 12H race featured a quality grid from the technical point of view. Following the defeat of a Ferrari F430, a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, several SEAT Leons and BMWs, it is difficult to realistically demand a better result than 6th place in the overall classification. Although BMW Team Hungary with EfficientDynamics are still having challenges ahead, Henning Putzke is not setting unrealistic targets for the team.

“Still what we have open is to go back to the 24 hours race. We learned a lot, we now have the right configuration on the car. Yes, the 24 hours race for sure is still something that we can achieve better, but let’s say, there is a limit on the vehicle that we know and within these limits our aim is to win in every category,” told Putzke but he couldn’t confirm yet that the team will return to the Green Hell, although this year’s results and the plans are reasons for optimism.

“From our side we’ll do everything to be on the start again in May.”