Lime Rock Park
.
The North East Grand Prix in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship at Lime Rock Park (USA) turned out to be a difficult
one for BMW Team RLL. Tom Blomqvist (GBR) and Connor De Phillippi
(USA) finished seventh of the GTLM class in the #25 BMW M8 GTE after
starting third. Jesse Krohn (FIN) and John Edwards (USA), driving
the #24 BMW M8 GTE, finished in eighth place. Overall, this result
comes as a disappointment after the team had such a strong
performance at the last race, starting from the front row and
finishing second and fourth, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CAN).
In the GTD class, Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley (both USA) raced
the Turner Motorsport #96 BMW M6 GT3 to a third place finish. It was
their third consecutive podium finish, after second place at Watkins
Glen International (USA) and a victory in the most recent round at
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be
held on 4th August at Road America (USA).
Quotes after the race at Lime Rock Park.
Brandon Fry (Technical Director BMW Team RLL): “We
certainly had high hopes for the race after qualifying – especially
with the #25 BMW M8 GTE starting third. The #24 BMW M8 GTE had an
issue early in the race and with this being a fully green flag race,
it was always going to be tough to make that time up that again. The
tyre degradation of the #25 car was just not predictable and with that
being the deciding factor here at Lime Rock, we just fell out of the running.”
Tom Blomqvist (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place):
“The only real positive to take from this race was our pace in
qualifying. It was a tough race for everyone but we just didn’t
execute flawlessly and in this series any small mistake can set you back.”
Connor De Phillippi (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th
place): “Tyre management was really tough today with the
heat. We certainly set the bar high for ourselves after qualifying,
but we just couldn’t translate that pace to the race.”
John Edwards (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“Days like today are really tough to stomach. Early in the
race we ended up behind and just never got the opportunity to make
that time up again. However, days like today makes our podium feel
even better.”
Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“Today was not what we expected, but we could not execute the strategy
to get a result. We need to look at the data and see where we can
improve for Road America.”