BMW RAHAL LETTERMAN RACING TEAM EXPERIENCES MIXED RESULTS IN 12 HOURS OF SEBRING QUALIFYING

Sebring, Fla. - March 19, 2009… Bill Auberlen, driving the No. 90 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3, qualified seventh for the 57th annual 12 Hours of Sebring. Auberlen's lap of 2:04.566 minutes around the 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway places him and co-driver Joey Hand in the top-half of the 15-car GT2 class field for the team's debut race.

Dirk Müller, driving the No. 92 BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3, experienced mechanical problems immediately after leaving the pits and did not complete a qualifying lap. Müller, who will co-drive with Tommy Milner, will have to start from the rear of the field.

Two more sessions are scheduled before Saturday’s 12 Hours of Sebring. A one-hour-and-forty-five minute practice is scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m. this evening. A final one hour practice session is scheduled for 9:55 a.m. tomorrow morning. The 57th annual 12 Hours of Sebring starts at 10:30 a.m.

Bobby Rahal, team principal:

“We’ve approached this season very conservatively. Bill and Joey starting seventh is not unexpected. The failure of the prop shaft in the No. 92 car certainly puts Dirk and Tommy behind at the start, but at Sebring qualifying position has very little to do with finishing position. I believe in the team, the cars, and the drivers so a small problem in qualifying does not ruin our weekend. The prop shaft had more than the race distance on it and had been scheduled to be changed before the race.”

Bill Auberlen, No. 90 M3:
“We are at the beginning of the program and every time we run the car we learn and improve. Seventh starts us right in the middle of the action and that is not a bad place to begin. There is nothing like Sebring and I am confident we’ll be ready to race.”

Dirk Müller, No. 92 M3:
“I feel very sorry for the team and share their disappointment. They have worked too hard to be let down by a problem in our very first qualifying attempt. Obviously, we were all expecting to have smiles on our faces, but just after leaving the pits I heard a noise underneath the car and, sadly for everyone, had to bring it slowly back in.”

About Rahal Letterman Racing:

Rahal Letterman Racing, based in Hilliard, Ohio and co-owned by three-time IndyCar Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and CBS LATE SHOW host David Letterman, has been competing for more than a decade compiling 20 victories, 30 poles and one series championship (Bobby Rahal in 1992 in CART) and an Indianapolis 500 championship (Buddy Rice in 2004). In 2008 Rahal Letterman Racing again won Rookie-of-the-Year honors at the Indianapolis 500 and partnered with Andersen Racing to run two entries in the Indy Pro Series. In 2009 the team has joined BMW North America to campaign the new BMW M3 as BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team in the American Le Mans Series and will as serve as the organizers of the Formula BMW Americas championship.

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 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 centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 83 MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 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.

Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:

www.bmwgroupna.com
www.bmwusa.com
www.bmwmotorcycles.com
www.miniusa.com
www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

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Journalist note: Information about the BMW Group and its products is available to journalists on-line at the BMW Group PressClub at the following address: www.press.bmwgroup.com.

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