Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner in the #25 BMW Team RLL Z4 finished fifth in the GTLM class in the 2 ¾ hour Tudor United SportsCar Championship Series race at Road America on August 9, while their teammates John Edwards and Lucas Luhr finished sixth in Z4 #24.
Balance of performance adjustments made by the sanctioning body gave an edge to Porsche and Ferrari; the BMWs were about two seconds off the pace of the class leaders. Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy won the class in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR.
Team principal Bobby Rahal said “It was a very disappointing day. We did the best we could with what we had. The BoP adjustments that have been given to Porsche and Ferrari over the last few races are not balanced. I know it is going to be a tough last part of the year if it continues like this.”
Michael Marsal in the #97 Turner Motorsport Z4 was hit just twenty minutes into the race, bringing out the only full-course yellow of the day. Marsal was okay, but the Z4 was not repairable. His co-driver Markus Palttala never got into the car.
Just two weeks earlier Marsal had teamed with Dane Cameron, subbing for Palttala, to win the GTD class at Lime Rock Park.
The Prototype class, which did not run at Lime Rock, was competing at Road America, so Cameron returned to the Action Express/Whelen Corvette DP team that he is running with this season. He and co-driver Eric Curran took the overall win.
IMSA announced its 2016 schedules at Road America. The circuits will remain the same as they are in 2015, although the Watkins Glen race will be moved back a week to run on the first weekend in July and the GTLM class will be added to the Lime Rock event along with GTD and Prototype Challenge, the two classes that ran there this season.. Also, in November WeatherTech will become the sponsor of what is now known as the Tudor United SportsCar Championship series. The new name will be the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. More information on the new sponsorship arrangement and the 2016 schedules is available on the IMSA website, /.
The TUSC series runs again on August 23 at Virginia International Raceway.—Brian S. Morgan
