BMW Team RLL's pace in the IMSA WeatherTech Series race at Long Beach made it clear that the M6 GTLMs were in the hunt for a win—but in the end, BMW's best was the fourth-in-class finish of Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims in Car #25.
Auberlen in #25 and John Edwards in the #24 M6 GTLM that he shared with Martin Tomczyk stayed out of trouble when the first yellow flag of the 100-minute race came out on lap one. Auberlen moved up to second from his fifth-place starting position and Edwards moved up to fourth from his seventh spot on the grid.
Auberlen went on to run a strong second place through his opening stint. After he handed off to Sims with 57 minutes remaining in the race the car fell to eighth. Sims moved up over the course of the race, running fifth until moving up to fourth on the last lap.
Team RLL ran the two M6s on different strategies. Edwards pitted early on the second caution period to hand off to Tomczyk. Tomczyk moved up as other racers pitted, taking over the class lead on lap 29. Five laps later he took the overall lead for a time when the prototypes pitted during another caution period. Tomczyk held onto the class lead until an electrical issue with about ten minutes remaining slowed the car. He was able to regain power, and continued to finish seventh.
The #3 Corvette, with Antonio Garcia at the wheel, was leading his teammate Tommy Milner in Corvette #4 after Tomczyk fell back. But when a three-car incident set off by Lexus’ Robert Alon blocked the track in the final turn on the final lap Garcia was trapped, unable to move forward. Milner found a way to get by, along with Ryan Briscoe in the #67 Ford GT and Kevin Estre in the #912 Porsche. Sims crossed the line fourth, with a very frustrated Garcia following him to finish fifth.
Team RLL principal Bobby Rahal said, “It was a shame to have an electrical issue within sight of the checkered flag. Our strategy was certainly working and Martin was doing a great job, but today was not our day. I’m sure everyone is disappointed, but on the positive side we seem to on pace with the rest of the field.”
Jens Klingmann in the GTD class #96 Turner Motorsport M6 GT3 that he shared with Bret Curtis was one of the three cars caught in the last-lap incident. Before that he was running sixth in class. The car was classified ninth in class at the end. Gunnar Jeanette and Cooper MacNeil won the GTD class in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The overall win went to Jordan and Ricky Taylor in the #10 Cadillac DPi; Jordan Taylor got by Ryan Dalziel in a Nissan DPi with just five minutes left, securing the #10 car’s third win in three races this season and overcoming Balance of Performance changes designed to level the playing field in the prototype class.
IMSA WeatherTech series competition resumes at Circuit of the Americas in Texas on March 6.—Brian S. Morgan
