BMW Team RLL’s M6 GTLMs finished second and third in class in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship Series race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims in #25 finished second, while John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk finished third in car #24. The class win went to Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette.
Edwards started M6 #24 from the pole, and Sims started #25 third. Edwards led from the start, with Sims moving up to second. The two racers were not involved in a first-lap, first-turn incident that reduced the GTLM race to a four-car battle involving the two BMWs, the #911 Porsche driven by Patrick Pilet and Dirk Werner, and the #3 Corvette.
The #911 Porsche got by Sims for second just over 30 minutes into the two-hour-and-forty-minute race. The BMWs continued in first and third until the first pit stop and driver change during a caution period. Both BMWs were set back on the pit stop. Auberlen exited the pit box in #25 before fueling was finished, and was called in for a drive-through penalty. Tomczyk did not stop for a red light at the end of pit road, and was also called in for a penalty. The #911 Porsche also missed the red light, and had to serve a penalty as well.
As a result, the Corvette, which had pitted earlier, but was not on pace with the BMWs and the Porsche, took over the lead and managed to hold it for the balance of the race. Auberlen and Sims finished second, just 2.498 seconds behind the winning Vette at the end, while Edwards and Tomczyk finished third.
BMW Team RLL race engineer Neil Fife said “We are happy we got a podium finish with P2 and P3 but some mistakes cost us the victory. We have to keep on pushing because BMW Team RLL is working really hard to get that deserved win. We were in the fight for the win last race, we were in the fight for the win this race and we’ll be in the fight for the win the next race as well.”
The Turner Motorsport M6 GT3 driven by Jens Klingmann and Bret Curtis finished fifth in the GTD class, moving up after a well-timed pit stop about an hour before the end of the race. The GTD class win went to Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating in the #33 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
A 2 ½-hour Continental Challenge race was run at COTA on the day before the WeatherTech Series race. Ari Balogh and Greg Liefooghe in the #81 BimmerWorld 328i finished sixth in the Street Tuner class, Nate Norenberg and Tyler Stone finished seventh in the #52 Mini, James Clay and Tyler Cooke finished ninth in the #84 BimmerWorld 328i, and Derek Jones and Mat Pombo finished tenth in the #73 Mini. The class win went to Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss in a Porsche Cayman.
The WeatherTech Series GT classes and the Continental Challenge Series run next at Watkins Glen on June 29-July 2.—Brian S. Morgan
COTA photos by Sam Cobb/BMW NA
