Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims drove the #25 BMW Team RLL M6 GTLM to a class win in the IMSA WeatherTech Series six-hour race at Watkins Glen on July 2. It was the first win for the M6 GTLM, now in its second season of IMSA competition.
John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk ran a strong race in the #24 M6 GTLM until the car had to drop out with a punctured radiator.
Sims and Tomczyk moved into the lead at the start from their second and third starting positions on the grid. They held onto the top positions through the first round of pit stops. After that Sims held onto the lead, while Edwards, who had taken over car #24, had to pit with a puncture and then had to pit again to serve a penalty because of a crew error on the stop. Eventually the car returned to the front of the pack, leading at times.
The two BMWs were on a different fuel stop strategy from the other GTLM cars. After their final stops they returned to the track in fifth and sixth. Soon after the last stop Edwards had to retire #24 when the radiator was punctured by debris from another car. Sims moved up to second before the other GTLM cars made their final stops. He moved into the lead with Richard Westbrook in a Ford GT close behind. A late caution enabled him to expand his lead and ensured that the car’s fuel would last.
Team principal Bobby Rahal said, “I am extremely proud of this team. It was a tough fight today with the win not assured until that last yellow helped us with fuel mileage. Alexander and Bill did a great job, but it could have equally been John and Martin’s day if not for an errant piece of a competitor’s car puncturing the radiator. Now back to the shop to prepare for Mosport (CTMP).”
The Turner Motorsport BMW driven by Justin Marks and Jens Klingmann made the podium in the GTD class as Klingmann made a late-race charge to move into the third position. The class win went to Andy Lally and Katherine Legge in an Acura NSX GT3.
On the day before the six-hour race Minis took the first two positions in the Street Tuner class in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race. Derek Jones and Mat Pombo won in Mini #73 while Mark Pombo and Jared Salinski finished second in Mini #52. The third Mini driven by Mike LaMarra and James Vance finished fifth, the #81 BimmerWorld 328i of Ari Balogh and Greg Liefooghe finished seventh and the #84 BimmerWorld 328i of James Clay and Tyler Cooke finished ninth.
The WeatherTech and CTSC teams get no rest after the Watkins Glen race; IMSA competition resumes at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 7-9. —Brian S. Morgan
