Alexander Sims and Bill Auberlen in the #25 BMW Team RLL M6 GTLM won their class in the IMSA WeatherTech Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 9. Their teammates John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk finished second in car #24.
Auberlen took the lead from Dirk Werner in the #911 pole-sitting Porsche at the start. Tomczyk, who had started fourth, moved into second. Auberlen and Sims went on to lead over two hours of the race, with Tomczyk and Edwards always close behind them. The #911 Porsche mounted the most difficult challenge to the BMWs; Patrick Pilet, Werner’s co-driver, was chasing Sims for the lead late in the race, but the Porsche lost an engine, moving Edwards into second in the #24 BMW and giving Sims the room he needed to secure the win. The race ended under yellow after a crash in a downpour. It was the second burst of rain in the two-hour-and-forty-minute race; the BMWs stayed on slicks through both.
Sims, who won on his first trip to CTMP, said afterward, “That was an awesome race! There was quite a bit of ducking and diving, but even when the rain fell and we were still on slicks I believe we were the strongest car. Honestly, my first five or six laps were spent still getting comfortable with this track, but once I found the groove I really started to love this place.”
It was the second consecutive win for Sims and Auberlen, who had scored the first-ever win for the M6 GTLM just a week earlier at Watkins Glen.
Bret Curtis and Jens Klingmann finished fourth in the GTD class in the #96 Turner Motorsport M6 GT3. It was the team’s third top five finish of the season. Lawson Aschenbach and Andrew Davis won the class in a Stevenson Motorsport Audi R8 LMS.
James Vance and Mike LaMarra in the #37 Mini finished third in Street Tuner in the Friday Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race. Vance was leading when he came together with Porsche Cayman racer Eric Foss, who was chasing the Mini for the lead; the impact knocked the Mini off course, while the Porsche moved into the lead and went on to win. Michael Johnson and Stephen Simpson finished fourth in the #54 BMW 228i; it was their best finish to date. James Clay and Tyler Cooke finished fifth in class in the BimmerWorld 328i.
IMSA runs again at Lime Rock Park on July 21 and 22.—Brian S. Morgan
