Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner in the #25 BMW Team RLL Z4 GTLM finished third in the dramatic Tudor United SportsCar Championship six hour race at Watkins Glen on June 28. Much of the race was run in the rain; at times the conditions were treacherous, prompting a fourteen-minute red flag period in the final hour.
Auberlen spun on the first lap, but soon recovered to fourth. He went on to run a strong race along with his teammate Dirk Werner. After the red flag period and a few laps under yellow the track went green with fifteen minutes left in the race. At that point, racing in a downpour, Auberlen was running second behind Wolf Henzler in the #17 Falken Tire Porsche. Earl Bamber in the #912 Porsche was on Auberlen’s tail; the #25 Z4’s electronics were affected by the wet conditions, leading to intermittent shut downs. Bamber got by before the track went yellow for the final time with about eight minutes remaining. The rest of the race was run behind the BMW M4 safety car.
The #24 Team RLL Z4 exited the race just before the halfway mark when John Edwards crashed on his out lap. He had taken the car into the class lead on the opening stint before handing it over to Lucas Luhr, who also led the class.
Markus Palttala in the #97 Turner Motorsport GTD class Z4 that he shared with Michael Marsal limped home ninth in class with a tire that went flat just before the end of the race. The GTD win went to Al Carter, Cameron Lawrence, and Marc Goossens in the #93 Dodge Viper SRT.
The #25 Z4's finish propelled Auberlen and Werner into the GTLM drivers’ points lead and kept BMW in the manufacturer’s lead. Auberlen said, "That was a tough one. From the get go we were on pretty hard compound dries, and it sort of sprinkled and it looked like our car hated that combination – sprinkling and a medium tire we were out to lunch. Then the track would dry, you would come to the front, sprinkle and we would go back. On rains it was just the opposite. When we put the Michelin rains on I went right to the front. We beat everyone we needed to beat in the points and we are moving forward and that is all we wanted to do. I had an ignition issue with so much rain and my motor shut off coming out of the carousel and that is how the Porsche got by me for second."
The overall win went to Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante in the VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP. They took the lead from Joey Hand just a lap before the final yellow came out when Hand had to pit the Ganassi Riley-Ford that he shared with Scott Pruett for a splash of fuel.
The GTLM cars run again at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 10-12, while the GTD cars run again at Lime Rock Park on July 24 and 25.—Brian S. Morgan
