Photo by: Adriano Manocchia
Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – September 14, 2012… BMW Team RLL drivers Dirk Müller and Bill Auberlen ended today’s qualifying session for the four-hour American Le Mans Series VIR240 with mixed results.
Müller, driving the No. 56 M3 GT, posted the second fastest time in the 15-minute session, only .371 seconds from the GT class pole. His fastest lap - 1:46.359 minutes - was set on his fourth lap of the 3.27-mile circuit. Jonathan Summerton, who is substituting for Joey Hand this weekend, will co-drive with Müller.
Since the fourth round of the season, the No. 55 M3 GT has been setting the qualifying pace for the team, but today was different. Auberlen struggled with grip throughout the session. His third lap time of 1:46.680 minutes was his best, .692 seconds from the pole, but it was only good enough for the seventh starting position. He will co-drive with Jörg Müller.
With two wins and an additional four podium finishes in the first eight races of the season, Dirk Müller stands third in driver points. Joey Hand stands fourth. Bill Auberlen and Jörg Müller are seventh.
Dirk Müller, driver No. 56 M3 GT – (second) -“In today’s second practice we were not as good as we should be, but Chris (Yancher) and the guys made changes that gave me a great car for qualifying. The car was perfect up through the esses and that is critical to a fast lap here. I know Scott is watching and I hope we can do even better tomorrow.”
Bill Auberlen, driver No. 55 M3 GT – (seventh) – “We have been struggling since we unloaded which is very uncharacteristic of the No. 55 car of late. I believe we can race better than we qualified, but I’m sure we will be making quite a few changes this evening.”
The VIR 240 race will take the green flag at 2:30 p.m. ET tomorrow with live streaming coverage available on ESPN3.com starting at 2:15 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will broadcast the race at 5:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept 16th.
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.
Source: BMW
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