PRO ANNUAL 2018

something that was quite positive. But I also knew that some of the teams had some issues, such as Volkswagen, who were not ready at the start.” Not surprisingly it wasn’t long before the factory-backed outfits, including Audi, VW and Ford, were able to fight back, while a rookie, despite all his experience, was facing a steep learning curve. “I hoped that we could do that in small steps at least and adapt my style, getting used to the car, and then with the new car would come more performance. This was probably not the case, as I had thought, because there are not the resources and manpower available to move forward like the factory teams can do.” Scheider knew that it was not going to be easy to get into the fine-tuning details during practice sessions, because setting up a rallycross car is a far cry from a DTM racer. “It cost us quite a lot of performance over the season. especially with me being a rookie,” he explained. However, Scheider did believe that his experience of racing at tracks at Lohéac and Riga would be of some help. However, going to Estering was a disaster, with weather and track conditions being major contributing factors. “It was a really shitty draw for me – going pole in the wet at the beginning and dry conditions at the end. It was the same on the Sunday as well. I was faster on a single lap, but we lost time in the race through the little details. “The good news is that I will know all the tracks apart from America for next year, although nothing is decided on my 2018 World RX plans yet,” added Scheider A raft of announcements followed Scheider’s full-time switch to the rallycross arena, including one he didn’t expect - being signed as a works BMW Motorsport driver. “I was really impressed by the phone call from Jens, and it was really nice to have the kind of situation. He said to me: ‘Ah, Timo, you know it’s really quite late, but if I’m honest, I can’t give you something special for next year, for 2017. But are you interested in joining the BMW family, and doing something with us next year?’” Scheider admitted to MsD that he was “simply overwhelmed” with the amount of opportunities, following the sudden and surprising decision to axe him from the Audi DTM team in October 2016. “Getting the BMW contract was a big thing for me as it showed me my value as a professional driver on the market, which made me so proud and I cannot thank them enough for that. It only ended up being the one-off at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, where we were running in P3 before Augusto’s crash, along with a VLN race earlier in the year. When I did the VLN race, the race pace showed and lap times I did were always competitive, which was important for me to showcase against the BMW line- up, which is strong.” As a result of his efforts behind the wheel of the M6 GT3, plus a quick blast on the gravel with good friend and DTM driver Timo Glock in the M4 DTM at Hockenheim in May this year, Scheider’s contract has now been extended, with further news about his 2018 season set to be unveiled soon. Scheider also got wind of a racing site down in Mallorca that needed a new lease of life, thanks to a DTM team manager who put the idea to him. So Scheider headed to the Circuit Mallorca, the only test track in the locality, and just 15 minutes from Palma de Mallorca airport. “When I got there, I literally said ‘Wow!’ It was so different to every race track that I have ever been to in my career, because it had that ‘holiday’ feeling included at a circuit environment. It was so close to the beach with both city and ocean views from the paddock, which looks so spectacular at night!” Despite Scheider’s enthusiasm, it took a few conversations with the circuit’s main owner to get “Getting the BMW contract was a big thing for me as it showed me my value as a professional driver on the market, which made me so proud” PRO ANNUAL 2018 46