Dominik Baumann can look back on a successful season in 2012, having won the FIA GT3 European Championship in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. After two years driving a Mercedes in the ADAC GT Masters, the young Austrian is now changing make and model for his fifth season in motor racing. His new partner in the BMW Z4 GT3 prepared by Schubert Motorsport is Claudia Hürtgen.

"After two years contesting the Formel ADAC series, I made the step up to GT racing in 2011, finishing a respectable fifth in the ADAC GT Masters and as a member of the winning team in the FIA GT3 European Championship," says Baumann. "Last season was my most successful to date, winning the FIA GT3 European Championship, being named as FIA CENTRAL EUROPEAN ZONE Motorsport Talent of the Year and successfully defending the FIA GT3 European team title with HEICO Motorsport. I would like to thank my partners and sponsors, and of course everyone at HEICO Motorsport and Mercedes-Benz for the great time we've had together. But I also quickly realised that, to take my career to the next level, I should be looking for a new challenge. This explains my change of constructor to BMW and my move to the PIXUM Schubert Motorsport team."

Baumann joined his new outfit for the 24-hour race in Dubai at the start of the year, but had to retire early after being hit by another car. In Dubai, Baumann acquainted himself with the BMW and also worked alongside Claudia Hürtgen, who is not only a triple ADAC GT Masters race winner but also the only woman driver to have occupied the top podium spot in this series. Hürtgen and Baumann will be sharing the cockpit of the BMW in all 16 rounds of the ADAC GT Masters.

"I am very excited about this new challenge with a new team-mate, a new team, and of course the BMW Z4. Although our outing in Dubai was unfortunately cut short, it was immediately clear to me that the Z4 is a real racer. You have to do a lot more physical work with the car, which makes it difficult to post consistently fast times. But over a single lap, the BMW is probably the fastest car I have ever driven."

The past few weeks since Dubai have been a bit too quiet for this highly motivated driver from Hall in Tirol. Baumann went to Finland as an instructor in the context of the dealer presentation for the new Mini Paceman and next week will be joining the team for a few days at Oschersleben where he will be helping to assemble the Z4 GT4 racing cars for the ADAC GT Masters. The dates have now also been fixed for the test sessions at the e-tropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben: 26th - 28th April. "I just can´t wait for the season to start now," adds Baumann earnestly.