BMW Team RLL Qualifies 6th and 7th at Circuit of the Americas Edwards Sixth, Priaulx Seventh.

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – Sept. 19, 2014 . . . BMW Team RLL qualified mid-field for Saturday’s 2.75-hour Lone Star Le Mans race at Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas, the penultimate round of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Today’s qualifying session was notable for the most recent Balance of Performance changes, which doubled the spread of the GTLM class qualifying field from one second to two seconds.

John Edwards qualified the No. 56 BMW Z4 GTLM in sixth position with a time of 2:04.253 minutes around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn circuit. Edwards will co-drive with Dirk Müller. Andy Priaulx’s lap of 2:04.495 minutes slotted the No. 55 Z4 into the seventh position. He will share the car with Bill Auberlen. All BMW Team RLL drivers stand third in GTLM driver points. The class pole was won by the No. 910 Porsche with a time of 2:03.302 minutes.

“It was a good performance by both of our cars, but it’s a very difficult environment now,” said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. “Porsche received a large performance enhancement a couple of races ago and you see the fact of it here. We did receive a larger restrictor for this race, but also a significant weight increase. It is going to be a tough race for us tomorrow, but you have got to get to the end, because anything can happen.” 

John Edwards, driver No. 56 Z4 GTLM – (6th) – “The Porsches have been strong all weekend so we knew they were going to be tough to beat. But we thought we could possibly get a P4 or something like that behind them. I think we got the most out of the car that we could today. When you don’t have the car to be on pole you have just have to do the best you can. I think in the short time we had between practice and qualifying, we improved the car. I would prefer wet weather tomorrow, as more variables when we are not quick in the dry will definitely help us.”

Andy Priaulx, driver No. 55 Z4 GTLM – (7th) – “Our tire compound choice was not the best for today’s conditions. The car overall, I think, is good. With the BoP and all the issues there we are not looking that strong. I was expecting to be a bit faster, but it is a long race tomorrow.  It is an amazing track, a lovely circuit.”

The 2.75-hour Lone Star Le Mans will take the green flag at 11:35 a.m. CT Saturday, Sept. 20th. The race will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 2 beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET. Follow BMW Team RLL on Twitter at @BMWUSARacing for “from-the-pit-box” updates all weekend. More information on the program can be found at www.bmwusa.com and www.imsa.com.

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 and X4 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 339 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 120 MINI passenger car dealers, and 35 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

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 over two decades, compiling 30 victories, 42 poles and three series championships (1992, 2010, 2011) 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.

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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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