BMW Team RLL goes into Sunday’s American Le Mans Series Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix searching for their third win in five races.
Starting fourth in the GT class and 18th overall, Dirk Müller piloted the no. 56 Z4 GTE across the line with a time of 1:15. 672. American driver Joey Hand will rejoin Müller in the no. 56 after missing two races to compete in Germany’s DTM touring car series in the BMW M3.
Müller will be looking to extend his lead in the GT points standings tomorrow. He currently has 64 points – 16 ahead of Corvette drivers Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, and part-time teammate John Edwards.
Veteran driver Bill Auberlen qualified the second Z4 GTE (no. 55) directly behind Müller for fifth in class. He and teammate Maxime Martin are currently tied for fifth in the standings with 44 points.
Despite not landing one of the top three spots, the team is happy with their qualifying result in the Z4 GTEs first visit to the Bowmanville Circuit.
“Frankly, I’m enthused a bit more than I thought I would be based on qualifying,” RLL Team Owner Bobby Rahal said. “I thought we were going to be further off the pace – just because of our straight line speed deficit. That uphill straight – forget that it’s a long straight, it’s uphill too, so that’s just pure power there that makes the difference. But I’m pleasantly surprised by our overall pace. I think we have a little more work to do on the cars, make them handle a little better, make them easier on the tires, but if we do that I think we can have strong consistent runs and that’s the important thing.”
Müller, who has qualified on pole twice in the M3, was equally pleased with the pace of the Z4.
“I really enjoyed qualifying,” Müller said. “We knew it was going to be tough, but I was just two-tenths off the pole and at the end of the day. I had a blast and did all my best sectors together, so with that it’s second row in P4. I’m looking forward to the race, but it’s definitely going to be demanding. Qualifying here really is something special, it was really good, I’m very happy.”
The team sits tied with Corvette Racing at 72 points. With the Corvettes starting second and sixth in class, a strong finish could help BMW take a commanding lead and separate themselves further from the Viper-equipped SRT squad, currently third with 45 points.
For all the action, coverage of the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix begins at 12 noon (EST) on ESPN2 and ESPN3, or ALMS.com for live timing.
