Munich (DE), 4th July 2016. BMW Team RLL drivers Bill Auberlen (US)
and Dirk Werner (DE), racing the number 25 BMW M6 GTLM, finished third
in Sunday’s six-hour race at Watkins Glen (US) for the pair’s second
podium finish of the season. Teammates John Edwards (US) and Lucas
Luhr (DE) finished eighth in the number 100 BMW M6 GTLM. Both cars
completed 190 laps of the 3.4-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen International
circuit during the fifth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar
Championship (IWSC). Victory went to Ford.
The GTLM class headline in the Six Hours of the Glen was the battle
between BMW and Ford. For virtually every lap of the race it was
either a Ford or a BMW at the front of the field – usually separated
by less than one second, even as the chequered flag signalled the end
of the race.
Bobby Rahal, (Team Principal BMW Team RLL):
“It was a hard race. Bill and Dirk did a very good job, but it is
clear that the Fords showed what they showed at Le Mans. They are
currently the quickest cars out there. However, we gave them a run. We
had a bad pit stop right there at the end with the number 100 car that
took the wind out of our sails, so we were disappointed with that. It
was still a good finish for the 25 car. We earned some good points and
certainly when you consider how we ran at Laguna Seca this is a major
improvement. On to Mosport.”
Bill Auberlen (Number 25 BMW M6 GTLM, 3rd place):
“That was a hard earned third. I have raced in this race since I was
18 years old and I have never had that clean a race. The others were
never in our way and the whole team did a great job. The crew was
flawless, the car was flawless and we are finding our way now in this championship.”
Dirk Werner (Number 25 BMW M6 GTLM, 3rd place):
“I am very happy with this podium, especially thinking of where we
were at the last race and how hard we have worked to get back into a
position where we are close to winning a race. The whole team made no
mistakes, we had a clean weekend and made a lot of good decisions. I
think that was a good race to get back into this championship after
the long break.”
John Edwards (Number 100 BMW M6 GTLM, 8th place):
“I think we had one of the quickest cars save for the top two, but
unfortunately every time we managed to claw our way back to the top
five and get ourselves ready for a fight we had either bad luck or
something else happened, so we would find ourselves back in P10. We
came back through the field a couple of times, but it was pretty
frustrating not to be able to capitalise on the speed of the car.”
Lucas Luhr (Number 100 BMW M6 GTLM, 8th place):
“For sure was very frustrating. Basically the season is continuing
like it started and it seems we cannot get a break. In the middle
stint we didn’t have the fastest car, but then twice there was
something wrong at the pit stop, so twice we were dead last. At the
end the car was quick, but from back there you cannot really fight. At
least our sister car got a podium, so that is good for them, but we
just need to keep on pushing, keep on fighting and hopefully one day
the mishaps will end.”