The Long Beach Grand Prix began on a high note for BMW, with Bill Auberlen putting the #25 M6 GTLM on the pole. But a penalty and a hit from another racer over the course of the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship street race dashed the team's hopes for a first win for the new car.
Auberlen led at the start, but the two factory Porsches, #912 driven by Earl Bamber and #911 driven by Patrick Pilet, got by the BMW after thirteen laps. The three cars circulated in the lead for a time, but just past the forty-minute mark all three drew penalties. Auberlen got a drive through for a contact with a Prototype Challenge car and the Porsches received stop-and-go penalties for speeding on pit road.
After that the two Corvettes took the lead; Auberlen fell to sixth. Dirk Werner took over for Auberlen, coming back on track seventh in class. He could not gain ground on the leaders, and had to come in for a tire change after he was hit by a Prototype Challenge car. He moved up due to late-race attrition, finishing fifth.
The #100 M6 GTLM had a difficult race from the start. It lost power early on Lucas Luhr’s stint, but was back on form soon after a stop. It ran near the back of the pack, taking an off-course excursion at one point, and was unable to regain ground on the leaders. Then, late in the race, on Edwards' stint, the car lost a wheel and went into the wall, ending its race. It was classified tenth in class.
It was a rough race for the GTLM pack. Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette was leading just before the end of the race, but he was rear-ended in turn ten by the #912 Porsche, with Fred Makowiecki at the wheel. The hit allowed Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche to get by for the lead. He went on to win as Milner recovered to finish second. Makowiecki limped into the pits; he would have been penalized if he had been able to continue. He was classified seventh. The #62 Ferrari 488GTE driven by Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander finished third. The #67 Ford GT driven by Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe, which had been rebuilt after a fire in practice, finished fourth, ahead of Werner in the #25 BMW.
Team RLL principal Bobby Rahal said, “Today was certainly not one of our finer races. We can’t have penalties and you can’t sustain damage, which sometimes is not your fault for sure as you can be a victim in that, but all those kind of things conspire to cause us to not have a very good race. It was a shame as the #25 car was leading and obviously was a much more competitive proposition. The #100 car had a loss of power early on and that took us out of the fight in the race. It is just a shame, but fifth place was a little bit of a salvage for the 25 car. Now on to the next one.”
IMSA Competition resumes on May 1 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.—Brian S. Morgan
