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PressClub USA · Article.
BMW RAHAL LETTERMAN RACING TEAM QUALIFIES SIXTH AND EIGHTH AT LAGUNA SECA
Sat Oct 10 06:57:17 CEST 2009 Press Release
Monterey, Calif. - October 9, 2009... The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3s will start mid-pack for tomorrow’s Monterey Sports Car Championship following the most competitive GT2 qualifying session of the season. When the checkered flag waved, the top-10 cars were within one second of the polesitter’s time, with the No. 90 M3 of Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand sixth and the No. 92 M3 of Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller eighth.
Press Contact.
Kenn Sparks
BMW Group
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Author.
Kenn Sparks
BMW Group
Monterey , Calif. – October 9, 2009… The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3s will start mid-pack for tomorrow’s Monterey Sports Car Championship following the most competitive GT2 qualifying session of the season. When the checkered flag waved, the top-10 cars were within one second of the polesitter’s time, with the No. 90 M3 of Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand sixth and the No. 92 M3 of Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller eighth.
Switching usual qualifying drivers in both M3s, Bill Auberlen
qualified the
No. 90 M3 sixth with a 1:23.552 minute lap around
the 2.238-mile Laguna Seca Raceway. Making no adjustments during the
session, Auberlen set his quick time on the sixth lap.
Making his first qualifying effort of the season, Tommy Milner drove
the
No. 92 M3 to the eighth starting position with a time
of1:23.745 minutes. The crew pitted Milner for adjustments after nine
laps, but his seventh lap stood as the fastest.
.
Bill Auberlen, driver No. 90 M3 (sixth): Youtube: click here for video
“This afternoon we took a different, more conservative approach with our set-up and ended up in the middle of a very competitive field. I think we’ll surprise some people tomorrow as we have been quite quick on a tire that can get us through the entire race. That means we can tailor a very good race strategy.”
Tommy Milner, driver No. 92 M3 (eighth): Youtube: click here for video
“Eighth may not be where we want to be, but, most importantly, our pace picked up as the session went on. We have a very good race car and with a bit of fine tuning tomorrow morning I am confident we’ll end up with a very good package for the race.”
The Monterey Sports Car Championships for the American Le Mans Series is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m. PT Saturday, Oct. 10 and will be broadcast on SPEED television at 2:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 11.
About BMW Rahal Letterman Racing:
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, 87 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.
BMW’s partner, 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 of North America to campaign the new BMW M3 as BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team in the American Le Mans Series and will also serve as the organizers of the Formula BMW Americas championship.
Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:
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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/us.html. Broadcast quality video footage is available via The NewsMarket at www.thenewsmarket.com.
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