Team RLL M3 GT on the GT class pole for tomorrow’s American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Auberlen, who will be making his 100th ALMS start tomorrow, set his fast lap of 50.920 seconds around the 1.5-mile, 8-turn circuit on his fifth lap of the 15-minute qualifying session. The 17-year BMW racing ace will co-drive the No. 55 M3 GT with BMW Motorsport veteran Jörg Müller. Mü ller will be making his first start at BMW of North America’s home track.
Joey Hand qualified the No. 56 BMW M3 GT in the fourth position with a time of 51.334 seconds. Hand, last year’s Lime Rock Park winner with co-driver Dirk Müller, tried a different qualifying strategy by waiting in the pits for the first half of the session. Unfortunately, a red flag brought a seven minute halt to the session with Hand setting his quick lap on lap six, just before the checkered flag waved.
“I am pleased for Bill to have scored the pole for his 100th ALMS race, “said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. “He was clearly the quickest guy out there. Bill and Jörg haven’t had much luck this year. I hope they have nothing but good luck tomorrow starting from the pole. Lots of BMW people will be here tomorrow and having your favorite car on the pole is a great way to start the day. Joey did a good job too. His fourth place time is only a blink of an eye off of the front row.”
Jens Marquardt, BMW Motorsport director added, “We learned a lot in the two practice sessions and transferred that information to Bill. He put the lap together and the time held up to the end of the session. It is unfortunate for Joey that the red flag came out on his hot lap. I think P4 for him is still quite good. All together, the team is in a very good position for the race.”
Joey Hand, driver No. 56 M3 GT - “We waited so we would have a clearer track because at Lime Rock Park you can have a big mess in traffic. The risk you take was demonstrated today. The red flag got me. Still I am pretty happy with how far we have come with the No. 56 M3 GT. The methodical changes the engineers have been making are moving us in the right direction. I think we would have been P1 or P2 if not for the red flag.”
Source : BMW Team RLL