BMW's new M6 race cars finished second in both the GTLM and GTD classes in the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 19. The first-ever podium finishes for both the M6 GTLM and M6 GT3 came in extremely challenging conditions in what was only their second race.
Bill Auberlen, Dirk Werner, and Bruno Spengler finished second in GTLM in the #25 BMW Team RLL M6 GTLM, while their teammates John Edwards, Lucas Luhr, and Kuno Wittmer finished sixth in car #100. Ashley Freiberg, Bret Curtis, and Jens Klingmann finished second in GTD in the #96 Turner Motorsport M6 GT3, while Michael Marsal, Markus Palttala, and Jesse Krohn finished seventh in class in the #97 Turner M6 GT3.
Auberlen started from the GTLM pole, with Edwards sitting beside him on the front row of the grid. The cars were always competitive, running under challenging conditions. Heavy rain that broke out after about 1½ hours led to a series of spins and incidents. Around the three-hour mark, just after Dirk Müller stuffed one of the Ford GTs into the turn one tire wall on an extremely wet track, IMSA red-flagged the race. Action was stopped for more than two hours.
Over the course of the race both team suffered penalties along with spins and contact incidents that were often brought on by other cars. Bobby Rahal said “It was a tough and exciting day at the office. I think the #100 car was the GTLM punching bag today.”
In the end positions in both classes came down to a twenty-minute shootout after the thirteenth full-course yellow of the race. The #25 car overcame a drive-through penalty for overboost to finish second behind the Corvette of Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin, and Marcel Fassler. Car #100 appeared to be headed for a podium finish until it was spun by a competitor. Both cars had led over the course of the race.
Jens Klingmann led the GTD class near the end, only to be overtaken in the waning minutes of the race by Alessandro Balzan in the Ferrari 488 GT3 that he shared with Jeff Segal and Christina Neilsen.
Dirk Werner, who finished the race in car #25, said Sebring was “a race that demanded a lot of work from everybody and in the end we can be happy because it was the first Sebring for the BMW M6 GTLM and it is maybe the toughest race to test your machine. I know the guys put a lot of work into this project. We tested a lot and I think it paid off with our first podium at its second race. We wanted to win but it was really close and next time we will try.
Jens Klingmann, who finished the race in the #97 Turner car, said “It was really tough and we didn’t know what to expect, but we saw in practice and qualifying that we had a strong car for this weekend. We have worked on getting there. The race was tough and it was difficult to keep the car on track when it was pouring down. I drove the last three hours and our big goal was to stay on the lead lap, which I achieved. Then it was just maximum attack. We are still missing a little, so I couldn’t defend P1 in the last ten minutes, but we are happy with P2. For the new car, if you can make it on this track I am really positive for the short races.”
The GTLM cars will race next on the streets of Long Beach on April 16. Both the GTLM and GTD classes will run at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 1.—Brian S. Morgan
