To the extent that historical press releases reference BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC as the manufacturer of certain X model vehicles, the referenced vehicles are manufactured in South Carolina with a combination of U.S. origin and imported parts and components.
PressClub USA · Article.
BMW Team RLL – Mid-Ohio ALMS Qualifying
Fri Aug 03 22:01:32 CEST 2012 Press Release
Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – August 3, 2012… Jörg Müller qualified the No. 55 BMW Team RLL M3 GT on the class pole for tomorrow’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. His time of 1:19.298 minutes around the 2.25-mile, 13-turn road course bested the competitive 12-car GT field in a 15-minute qualifying session that saw the first eight cars in the class post times less than one second off Müller’s pole time. Müller will co-drive with Bill Auberlen. Auberlen scored the first pole of the season for the No. 55 M3 GT at Lime Rock Park on July 6.
Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – August 3, 2012… Jörg Müller qualified the No. 55 BMW Team RLL M3 GT on the class pole for tomorrow’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. His time of 1:19.298 minutes around the 2.25-mile, 13-turn road course bested the competitive 12-car GT field in a 15-minute qualifying session that saw the first eight cars in the class post times less than one second off Müller’s pole time. Müller will co-drive with Bill Auberlen. Auberlen scored the first pole of the season for the No. 55 M3 GT at Lime Rock Park on July 6.
Only .456 seconds off the pole, Joey Hand qualified the No. 56 M3 GT in the seventh starting position with a time of 1:19.754 minutes. Hand will co-drive with Dirk Müller.
“I am very pleased for Jörg and Bill,” said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. “They have been our hard luck pair this year. I felt bad for Joey. He was not too happy with his car, but he is not that far off. We tested here a month ago and hopefully that will benefit us tomorrow when it counts.”
Following a streak of three consecutive podium finishes in the first three races of the season, including a win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, BMW Team RLL had two difficult races at Lime Rock Park and Mosport. Only fifth and sixth place finishes were netted at Lime Rock Park and the post race disqualification of the winner gave the team a third and seventh place finish at Mosport. Trailing Chevrolet by 13 points in Manufacturer standings and 18 points behind in the Team standings, BMW Team RLL is looking for a strong result at Mid-Ohio to move closer to the top. Joey Hand and Dirk Müller stand third in driver points. Teammates Bill Auberlen and Jörg Müller stand sixth.
J ö rg M ü ller, driver No. 55 M3 GT – “Our championship is so tough and so close - especially at the top of the GT class - that we needed to have everything perfect for this one lap. I am very happy. The crew did a brilliant job and our Dunlop tires were fantastic. The qualifying position is important but the race result is the most important. We have had the pole before let’s see what happens. The car needs to be consistent for the duration of the race. I am confident we will have the speed.”
Joey Hand, driver No. 56 M3 GT – “From practice to qualifying we had an entirely different car. Something changed and we are going to look into it. For now I’m confused. It was very loose. Our other car is on the pole so it’s a matter of figuring what changed. We will fix it and fight our way back to the front.”
The 2.45-hour Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge is the sixth round of the
2012 ALMS championship. The race will take the green flag at 1:05 p.m.
ET on Saturday, August 4th. ABC television will air the race same-day
beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The Series’ website offers additional content such as live
in-car cameras, and timing and scoring for all users around the world.
Viewers outside the U.S. can watch all ALMS races live on ALMS.com.
About BMW Team RLL:
BMW Group In America
BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since
1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in
2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include
marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW
brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and
the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic
design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon
Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW
Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global
manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all
X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The
BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through
networks of 338 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle
centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 114 MINI passenger car dealers,
and 32 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW
Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff
Lake, New Jersey.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
BMW’s partner, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, based in Hilliard, Ohio and co-owned by three-time IndyCar Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan and CBS LATE SHOW host David Letterman, has been competing for nearly two decades, compiling 22 victories, 31 poles and two series championships (1992, 2010) as well as claiming an Indianapolis 500 victory (Buddy Rice in 2004). In 2009 the team joined BMW of North America to campaign the new BMW M3 in the American Le Mans Series. In 2010 the team won both the Manufacturer and Team Championships in the GT category. In 2011 the team swept all three GT titles - Manufacturer, Team and Driver.
# # #
Journalist note:
Information about the BMW and its products is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwusanews.com.
Video interviews and on-board clips are available at www.youtube.com/BMWNAMotorsport.
Follow BMW Team RLL on Twitter at @BMWUSARacing and on Facebook at BMWUSA.
Information about Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is available via at: www.rahal.com.
# # #