Year one for the Z4 GTE yields second in driver, team, and manufacturers’ championships
Dirk Müller, John Edwards, and Bill Auberlen, driving the BMW Team RLL #56 Z4 GTE, finished second in the GT class in the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. Their teammates, Jörg Müller, Maxime Martin, and Uwe Alzen, finished fourth in Car #55.
The result yielded a second place in drivers’ points for Dirk Müller, second in team points for BMW Team RLL, and second in manufacturers’ points for BMW.
The first half of the race was run in on-and-off rain, but the rain stopped for good at about the six-hour mark. Dirk Müller ran the last stint in Car #56, finishing a close second to the class-winning Porsche after a ten-lap shootout following the race’s final caution period.
Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, who finished sixth in class in their Corvette along with co-driver Jordan Taylor, won the GT drivers title.
Team RLL principal Bobby Rahal said “This was a tough, hard race. I’m pretty happy with second and fourth, I have to say. We’ve really got a deficit on the straights and that’s a killer at Road Atlanta, so to have second is really darn good. It’s a shame we couldn’t win the championship for Dirk but P2 for him is a good consolation. The first year with the Z4 GTE was far better than the first year with the M3 GT, that’s for sure, and I think if we will be allowed to use a little more power we can make it a truly great and competitive year in 2014.”
This year’s Petit Le Mans was the final race of the American Le Mans Series. Next year the race will be part of the new Tudor United SportsCar Challenge series.—Brian S. Morgan
