While only Nick Heidfeld finished inside the points in Japan, Theissen is looking to achieve more before the end of the year when BMW pull-out of formula one.
Over the past two years, BMW Sauber has arrived at Interlagos with a chance of clinching both championship titles but, looking ahead to this year’s Brazilian grand prix, Theissen says he is only concerned with getting both Heidfeld and Robert Kubica into the top eight positions.
'It’s the final spurt for the 2009 formula one season. Brazil marks another traditional circuit on the calendar, whereas in the final race at Abu Dhabi we’ll all be broaching new territory,' said Theissen.
'While in 2008 the BMW Sauber was still in contention for both world championship titles up to the penultimate race of the season, in 2009 it’s a case of making the best of the situation and taking away as many points as we can.
'The results of the recent Grands Prix show that our development work is bearing fruit: we made it into the points in five consecutive races.
'Nevertheless, in Singapore and in Japan we fell short of our potential.'
One of the biggest challenges for both BMW Sauber drivers in the remaining two races is to limit engine wear, as both drivers are on the cusp of exceeding their yearly engine allocation, which would result in a five-place grid penalty for the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
'Interlagos is about 800 metres above sea level,' explained Theissen.
'Due to the thinner air, all engines lose around eight per cent of their output.
'This makes the engine wear a little less as the loading on the crank assembly is slightly reduced. That will not only suit our team.
'Nick will keep running his ninth race engine which was fitted in Singapore, and Robert his eighth also from Singapore.
'Naturally we want to avoid fitting another new unit, which would mean being relegated ten places on the grid.'
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