BMW Team RLL - Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix - Qualifying - Luhr - P4, Auberlen - P5

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – July 9, 2016… BMW Team RLL will start tomorrow’s two-hour-and-forty-minute Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix, the sixth round of the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, in the fourth and fifth GTLM class starting positions.

Lucas Luhr, driving the No. 100 BMW M6 he shares with John Edwards, set the fourth fastest time with a 1:15.446 minute lap of the 2.459-mile, 10-turn Canadian Tire Motorsport Park circuit. Bill Auberlen qualified the No. 25 BMW M6 fifth fastest with a 1:15.501 minute lap. He will co-drive with Dirk Werner. Only 0.248 seconds ahead of Luhr, the class pole went to Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette.

This year is a historic one for The Ultimate Driving Machine® as Bavarian Motor Works celebrates its 100th anniversary. To mark the occasion both of the M6 machines race with unique liveries and numbers significant to the marque. The number 100 M6 looks forward to BMW’s next century with an artistic theme. The number 25 M6 races this weekend with a Stars and Stripes livery in honor of the nation’s recent Independence Day and the BMW M3 GTR that won the Petit Le Mans race in October of 2001.

“I think our cars were pretty good today, but it is the race that counts,” said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. “Obviously the Fords and Corvettes are fast. Mosport is a tough place on tires. It is all going to be about balance and set-up, so I believe we are in a good spot. We will certainly give our best tomorrow.”

Lucas Luhr, driver No. 100 BMW M6 GTLM (4th): “This was not an ideal qualifying session because we had some clouds. We thought it might rain and had to go out a bit earlier than ideal. I got stuck in a little bit of traffic and maybe could have gone one or two tenths quicker. Overall I am pretty happy with how the car feels.”

Bill Auberlen, driver No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM (5th): “We were on a slightly different strategy to our sister car and it didn’t allow us to challenge it in qualifying, but I have a feeling in the race it will be a different story.”

The Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix starts at 11:05 a.m. ET July 10 with the live broadcast beginning at 11:00 a.m. on FOX Sports 1. Follow BMW Team RLL on Twitter at @BMWUSARacing for “from-the-pit-box” updates all weekend.

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; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based 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 and X4 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 341 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 153 BMW motorcycle retailers, 126 MINI passenger car dealers, and 36 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, former CBS Late Show host David Letterman and Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan, has been competing for over two decades. Prior to the start of their 25th season of competition in 2016, the team has compiled 37 victories, 49 poles, 144 podium finishes, three series championships (1992, 2010, 2011) and claimed 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. The following year the team won both the Manufacturer and Team Championships in the GT category and swept all three GT titles - Manufacturer, Team and Driver – in 2011. In 2012 the team finished second in the Team Championship and third in the Manufacturer Championship and in 2013, the team finished second in the Driver, Team and Manufacturer Championship. The 2014 season brought a new challenge with the creation of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and the team finished on the podium six times including four second-place finishes. In 2015, the team earned three wins, two poles and a total of eight podium finishes to finish second in the Manufacturer, Team and Driver championships. Prior to the start of the 2016 season BMW Team RLL had won 13 races, 20 poles and 57 podium finishes.

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Journalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwgroupusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.

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