Sebring. The “BMW M Motorsport Super Weekend” at Sebring (USA)
is in full swing. Thursday and Friday saw the qualifying sessions
for the BMW M8 GTE in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and
in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 2019. The countdown
is underway for the first of the two endurance races at the Sebring
International Raceway. The sixth race of the WEC Super Season starts
at 16:00 local time for BMW Team MTEK.
In qualifying for the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, Augusto Farfus (BRA),
António Félix da Costa (POR) and Bruno Spengler (CAN) secured fourth
place in the LM GTE Pro class with the #82 BMW M8 GTE. Their
team-mates Martin Tomczyk (GER), Nick Catsburg (NED) and Alexander
Sims (GBR) will be starting the race from seventh position in the BMW
Team MTEK #81 car.
In the IMSA series, Jesse Krohn (FIN), John Edwards (USA) and Philipp
Eng (AUT), in the BMW Team RLL #24 BMW M8 GTE, will start from sixth
position in the GTLM class. The #25 BMW M8 GTE, driven by Tom
Blomqvist (GBR), Connor De Phillippi (USA) and Colton Herta (USA),
recorded a seventh-place finish in qualifying.
“The stage is set for two thrilling races at the Sebring
International Raceway,” said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt.
“Our four BMW M8 GTEs in the WEC and IMSA series have made a good
impression thus far. Our experience of Sebring tells us that the grid
positions are not decisive. Both races will be long and tough, and the
weather could yet have a few surprises in store on Saturday, but BMW
Team MTEK and BMW Team RLL have both prepared excellently. Let’s get
started with the two races over the ‘BMW M Motorsport Super Weekend’.”
The WEC race starts on Friday at 16:00 local time (21:00 CET). The
second race of the 2019 IMSA series, the 12 Hours of Sebring, then
gets underway on Saturday at 10:40 local time (15:40 CET).