Munich. BMW Team RLL finished the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship race at Watkins Glen (USA) in seventh and eighth
positions in the GTLM class. The #25 BMW M8 GTE finished seventh
with Bill Auberlen (USA), Connor De Phillippi (USA) and Alexander
Sims (GBR) sharing the driving duties after a problem-free race. The
#24 BMW M8 GTE, of Tom Blomqvist (GBR), John Edwards (USA) and Jesse
Krohn (FIN), finished 27 laps down in eighth after problems with the
starter motor. The race was won by the #66 Ford GT.
BMW customer racing team Turner Motorsport fought
through a tough and competitive field in IMSA’s GTD class to take the
top podium spot after qualifying in 13th position. The
winning Turner BMW M6 GT3 was co-driven by Dillon Machavern (USA),
Markus Palttala (FIN) and Don Yount (USA).
Reactions to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at
Watkins Glen:
Connor De Phillippi (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place):
“Obviously, during the first stint of the race you’re just
trying to play it safe. Six hours is a long one so we just tried to
keep a clean car. The race developed as expected; the first lap was a
little crazy with some crashes but we made it through. It was clear
that we were missing pace compared to our competitors. We tried to run
a strategic race and that went as planned but we weren’t able to
capitalise on it in the end. All the guys on the team worked really
hard and we move on to Mosport looking for a better result.”
Alexander Sims (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place):
“We clearly didn’t have the pace today. We experimented with
strategy at the end and had to do some fuel saving. Credit to the team
for working as hard as they could, and trying to find any possible
advantage, but this was not our weekend.”
Bill Auberlen (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place):
“It was great to be back behind the wheel of the BMW M8 GTE.
The team did a really great job, but today was obviously not our day.”
Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“It’s a shame about being out of it because of early problems
when there’s nothing you can really do but finish the race and get the
points. Even without the problems today, we did not have the pace.”
John Edwards (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“We weren’t really fighting for a podium position so it was
just a matter of lapping to finish the race after we had the issue
with the starter early on. We tried to make the time useful however,
practicing some fuel saving measures, but ultimately it is hard to
look at the positives on a day like today.”
Tom Blomqvist (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“Watkins Glen was a fun experience! It is obviously a great
shame we never had the pace to fight for a proper position in this
race, and we ran into some troubles that hindered our end result, but
the track was fun. I enjoyed racing with the BMW Team RLL guys,
everyone was really welcoming, and I hope to be back here racing
sometime in the not too distant future.“
Next for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is a trip
north of the border to the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in
Bowmanville (CAN) where the next round will be staged on
8th July.