Following an eight-week hiatus in the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for teams competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, BMW Team RLL shifts right back into high gear with races at Watkins Glen International (WGI) on July 3 and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) one week later. The two venerable North American permanent road courses will surely be a challenging test for BMW’s new M6 GTLM racing cars that showed early promise at Daytona and Sebring, but struggled to put all the pieces of the new package together at Laguna Seca.
For both races the #25 M6 GTLM, driven by Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner, will race with a patriotic livery to celebrate the Fourth of July as well as to pay homage to one of one of the most popular BMWs ever to race in North America—the E46 M3 GTR. The BMW Team PTG M3 GTR raced and won with the stars and stripes livery at the October 2001 Petit Le Mans. Auberlen, along with Boris Said and Hans-J. Stuck, were the winning drivers. The #100 M6 GTLM, driven by John Edwards and Lucas Luhr, will continue to race with its unique livery celebrating BMW’s 100th anniversary.
The Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen is up first at the newly resurfaced 3.4-mile, 17-turn Watkins Glen circuit. The team tested twice at WGI in May, gaining experience on the new Michelin tire that was introduced at Laguna Seca before the Le Mans break. An additional two-day test recently at Road Atlanta provided more data that will help with the M6 compete on the high-speed, unforgiving CTMP circuit.
"We tested at the Glen recently and I think we had good pace after a disastrous Laguna Seca event for us,” said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. “The Watkins Glen test was our first chance to really understand the new tire – so the performance was better and I feel good about that. The repaving of the circuit has made it much quicker so it should favor us. We feel a lot better about where we are given the experience with the new Michelin tire now. Not everyone tested so it's hard to say how we really stack up but I'm hopeful. We've been on pole there before, finished third last year and actually could have done better but poor John got caught up in someone else's accident. We've had pace there so I'm optimistic of our chances there for sure. Aside from Sebring, Daytona, and Le Mans, most endurance races, historically, were six hour or 1000 kilometer races. I think that is a good distance, a lot can happen in that time and yet it's not so long that it becomes overly demanding on the crew and the car. You always look forward to going to Watkins Glen because it's such a historical place and really, in many ways, the birthplace of racing in this country."
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Bill Auberlen, driver #25 BMW M6 GTLM: “We’ve done quite a bit of testing at the Glen and we’re getting more in-tune with the car each test. Mosport quickly follows so we have to be ready for both weekends when we roll out of the truck.”
Dirk Werner, driver #BMW M6 GTLM: “Laguna Seca showed that we had to make improvements and we used the break to do exactly that. My sense is we’ll be able to get closer to our competition as the M6 seems to like high speed corners and that is what Watkins Glen and Mosport offer.”
John Edwards, driver #100 BMW M6 GTLM: “Watkins Glen is my favorite circuit in North America and with the resurfacing I’m even more excited to race there again. The test showed us how much grip there is now so it seems the track flows even better than it did before. Having Mosport the next weekend only adds to my excitement as a racing driver likes nothing more than two fast weekends in a row.”
Lucas Luhr, driver #100 BMW M6 GTLM: “Mosport clearly separates the men from the boys and is my favorite of the two circuits. I believe the M6 will be strong there. I said last year that Watkins Glen reminds me of sections of the Nordschliefe so it is a close second to Mosport. Now that it is repaved it is fantastic to drive. It will be a challenging two weeks.”
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen takes the green flag at 10:10 a.m. ET Sunday, July 3 with the live broadcast beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. The Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix starts at 11:05 a.m. ET July 10 with the live broadcast beginning at 11:00 a.m. on FOX Sports 1. Follow BMW Team RLL on Twitter at @BMWUSARacing for “from-the-pit-box” updates all weekend.
