BMW Team RLL had a poor showing in the two-hour Continental Monterey Grand Prix at California's Laguna Seca Raceway, finishing ninth and tenth in the GTLM class.
Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner, driving the number 25 BMW M6 GTLM, finished ninth, 1.256 seconds ahead of the number 100 car co-driven by John Edwards and Lucas Luhr in tenth place. Both cars completed 78 laps of the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Laguna Seca circuit during the 120-minute contest. The race was won by the number 67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe (AU) and Richard Westbrook.
While the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now enters the traditional Le Mans break for teams competing in the classic 24 hour race, BMW Team RLL heads to Watkins Glen International for two tests in preparation for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen race on 3rd July.
Bobby Rahal (Team Principal BMW Team RLL):
“The race was really disappointing for everyone. We were searching for the set up for this new tire, but we couldn’t find it in the time we had. Everybody deserved better, but now we have two tests at Watkins Glen, so we can take this tire and actually start understanding it so we are more competitive at the next race there.”
Bill Auberlen (#25 BMW M6 GTLM, 9th place):
“Today was not our day, but we will be back at the front of the GTLM field sooner than later. A race like this one just makes BMW’s next success that much sweeter.”
Dirk Werner (#25 BMW M6 GTLM, 9th place):
“We had a difficult weekend. The speed gap we had from the beginning we faced in the race as well, so we couldn’t really fight for positions. I pitted quite early in the race and had luck that a yellow came out. Everyone else pitted so that moved us to the front - at least for a little while. Driving for maybe eight or ten laps in P1 was the best part of the race for me. Ultimately, we just didn’t have the pace for better results.”
John Edwards (#100 BMW M6 GTLM, 10th place):
“It was a really hard race. We knew it was going to be difficult from Friday when we first got onto the new tire. Obviously we didn’t find a good way to adapt to it. Fortunately we have eight weeks to the next race and a couple of test days, so we can find our way. We tried to go off strategy with the yellows and I saved a lot of fuel so we could go to the end. That strategy was really a good one as we got ahead of the cars we were racing with, but at the end we were just too slow to stay ahead of them.”
Lucas Luhr (#100 BMW M6 GTLM, 10th place):
“The weekend ended as it started - disappointing. In terms of performance, both of our cars were never able to fight or compete with the others. I think the break over these next few weeks will do us a lot of good and I am sure we will get it sorted out. As always in racing time is ticking a little bit against us, but there is no point having our heads down. We have to put our heads together, improve and come back stronger.”
