The ALMS M3s finish second and third at Lime Rock

[Roundel]

BMWs start from behind, take two podium spots

The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing M3s recovered from a disastrous wet qualifying session on Friday to finish second and third in the GT class in Saturday’s American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock. While it was a great finish for the team, the M3s are still looking for their first win of the 2010 season.

The two M3s came out five minutes into the rainy qualifying session, but the session was red-flagged for an incident before they could get up to speed. When the session went back to green with just five minutes left, the rain was coming down hard, and the combination of impossible conditions and uncooperative rain tires left the #92 car of Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner ninth, and the #90 of Joey Hand and Dirk Müller thirteenth on the GT grid.

The #92 M3 finished second in class at Lime Rock. (Brian Morgan photo)

But the M3s, sporting the Le Mans aero package for the first time, were fastest in the Saturday-morning warm-up session, run in dry but extremely hot conditions, and the team was optimistic that it could do well in the race.

Both cars moved up early in the race, pitting for fuel on the first full-course yellow, just seventeen minutes into the 2-3/4-hour enduro, and returning to the circuit to move up to fifth and sixth by the 34-minute mark. By that time the GT points leading Ferrari of Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni had been taken out in an incident.

Team strategists elected to keep the BMWs out on the third yellow, giving them the lead at the 45-minute mark, with Müller leading and Milner second. They held the top positions for almost an hour—but when the two M3s pitted for driver changes at the 1:40 mark, Jörg Bergmeister took over in the Flying Lizard Porsche that he shared with Patrick Long. Despite several attempts by Auberlen to pass the Porsche, it held on for the win, with the #92 M3 finishing second and #90 finishing third. Joey Hand set fastest lap in the GT class.

BMW NA Motorsport manager Martin Birkmann said afterward, “Today was full of good news. We continued our streak of finishing on the podium this season, and we led a few laps—which is something we’ve also done at all previous races this year. The bad news, of course, is that a win remains elusive. I keep promising the fans a win, and as long as we continue to be in good shape, I expect we will deliver. If you told me Friday night that today we would be able to pass so many competitors and challenge for the win, I wouldn’t have believed it. This is a good result, and our team—especially our pit crew—is incredible.”

The #90 M3 came from the back of the GT pack to finish third. (Brian Morgan photo)

The battle for the overall win was a thriller; Klaus Graf and Greg Pickett won in their Porsche RS Spyder prototype ahead of the Patron-Highcroft HPD Acura ARX-01c of David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud. With just twelve minutes left, Brabham tried to pass Graf on the main straight after a quick run through the downhill turn. Graf forced Brabham into the grass, and was given a stop-and-go penalty. But the incident aggravated an already-leaking tire on Brabham’s car, and his stop for repairs allowed Graf to serve his penalty and still hold on for the win.

As a result of their finish at Lime Rock, Porsche recaptured the lead in GT manufacturers’ points, leaving BMW second going into the next race at Mid-Ohio in two weeks.—Brian S. Morgan, motorsports editor, bmwcca.org