Both of the BMW Team RLL M6 GTLMs were taken out in incidents in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Lime Rock Park. It was a rough race, with a number of contact incidents and full-course yellow-flag periods. It was a rough race, with a number of contact incidents and full-course yellow flag periods.
Both of Team RLL’s cars were involved in incidents involving the #912 Porsche. On lap five car #100, with John Edwards at the controls, was hit by the Porsche in the downhill turn. The Porsche, driven by Frederick Makowiecki at the time, continued to race but the #100 BMW was flat bedded back to the garage. After working on the car for a time the team determined that the gearbox was damaged, so it could not return; Lucas Luhr never got a turn at the wheel. Meanwhile #25, with Werner driving, took the GTLM lead at the beginning of the race. He held it for over an hour, with the #62 Ferrari driven by Toni Vilander running second and the #4 Corvette driven by Tommy Milner running third. The Ferrari muscled its way by #25 in the chicane, forcing the BMW into the dirt. Car #25 quickly recovered and ran second until it was hit in the downhill turn by the #912 Porsche; Earl Bamber was driving the Porsche, having taken over from Makowiecki. The incident ended the race for both the BMW and the Porsche. Bill Auberlen, waiting in the pits for a driver change when the incident occurred, never got into car #25.
The #62 Ferrari led the class until Vilander’s co-driver Giancarlo Fisichella drove it off course late in the race, allowing Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette that he shared with Milner to take the lead. A second off-course excursion by Fisichella dropped the Ferrari to fourth. The #4 Corvette went on to win.
RLL team principal Bobby Rahal said, “Totally unnecessary driving by both drivers of the same car was responsible for eliminating both of our cars from the race. I told the officials if it was the last corner of the last lap of the race I could understand it, but we were only just over half way through the race. Obviously I am pretty upset about it. Dirk was doing a great job and the 25 car was in a position to win this race and was competitive enough to do it. Unfortunately we didn’t get far with the 100 car. We certainly expect the officials to do something about it.”
BMW fared better in the GTD class, where Bret Curtis and Jens Klingmann finished sixth in the #96 Turner Motorsport M6 GT3. Their teammates Markus Palttala and Michael Marsal finished just behind them in seventh in #97. Car #96 recovered after spending time in the pits for repairs and serving a drive through penalty for a contact incident on Klingmann’s stint. The GTD win went to Andy Lally and John Potter in the #44 Audi R8 LMS GT3.
The series runs again at Road America on August 5-7.—Brian S. Morgan
(Brian Morgan photos)
