Two champions swap cockpits: Martin Tomczyk drives the MINI ALL4 Racing, Nasser Al-Attiyah the BMW M4 DTM.

May 03, 2015

From asphalt to sand and back again: BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) and MINI ALL4 Racing ace Nasser Al-Attiyah (QA) both entered unfamiliar territory and took each other’s cars for a test drive.

As part of a video shoot for BMW Motorsport Premium Partner Red Bull in Dubai (AE), Tomczyk, a proven master of his trade on asphalt as the 2011 DTM Champion, took the wheel of the MINI ALL4 Racing, with which X-raid has won the famous Rally Dakar the last four years. During DTM testing in Oschersleben (DE), Al-Attiyah was given the opportunity to drive Tomczyk’s BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM. Two wins at the Rally Dakar are just some of the successes the rally driver from Qatar has had to date. He followed up his first victory in 2011 by winning in the MINI ALL4 Racing in January 2015.

“Driving the MINI ALL4 Racing through the sand and over the dunes in Dubai was a fascinating experience and was so much fun,” said Tomczyk. “The car has an incredible amount of torwue – and the test in the dunes was an amazing adrenalin rush even for an experienced race driver such as myself. It’s totally different to driving on a circuit. You can only appreciate what Nasser and the other MINI drivers really achieve at the Rally Dakar when you have tried it yourself.”

Al-Attiyah on his first encounter with the BMW M4 DTM: “I have contested a few races on asphalt throughout my career, but it has always been my dream to drive a DTM car. The BMW M4 DTM is fantastic. The aerodynamics are really noticeable in the turns in particular. There’s an incredible amount of grip. I was also impressed by the brakes of the DTM car.”

Tomczyk and Al-Attiyah swapped cars for a second time on Friday at the DTM season opener at Hockenheim (DE). The rally driver did several laps in the BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM on the Hockenheimring, while Tomczyk in the MINI ALL4 Racing raced around the off-road track on which the FIA World Rallycross Championship hosts a championship event as part of the supporting programme for the DTM weekend.

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