Racing News

     

    John Edwards and Dirk Müller, driving the BMW Team RLL #56 Z4 GTE, dominated the GT class in the American Le Mans Series race run on a very hot Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock in July. It was Edwards' first ALMS pole, and his first ALMS GT win; it was Müller's eighteenth win. Car #56 also won the Michelin Green X Challenge Award.
     
    Edwards started from the pole and stayed in the lead until he handed off to Müller, who held on for the class win in the 2¾-hour race. Müller held off the Corvette driven by Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, which finished second. Patrick Long and Tom Kimber-Smith finished third in GT in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

    The #55 Z4 driven by Bill Auberlen and Maxime Martin started second on the grid, but fell back on the second lap after a contact incident. Martin recovered, moving up to fifth before handing off to Auberlen, who continued to move up. Auberlen was leading in the final hour when he received a costly stop-and-go penalty for avoidable contact with a GTC class Porsche. He recovered to finish fourth in class in car #55.

    Müller said, “It is one of those days! Unbelievable. John had a phenomenal first stint that put pressure on me to bring home the victory. I have to give a very big thank you to the BMW Team RLL guys. We kept improving the car through each session and by the race it was perfect. Michelin gave us great tires, BMW gave us a great car and it all came together.”

    As a result of the win Müller extends his lead in GT drivers points going into the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport on June 21.—Brian S. Morgan