BMW Team RLL Finishes Third and Fourth at Circuit of the Americas

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – Sept. 21, 2013 . . . BMW Team RLL finished third and fourth in today’s inaugural American Le Mans Series race at the Circuit of the Americas. Both BMW Z4 GTE machines ran strongly for the majority of the race, only to fall victim to the top speed advantage of the Corvettes and Vipers in the closing stage of the 2.75-hour event.
John Edwards and Dirk Müller claimed third in the No. 56 Z4 GTE for Müller’s second consecutive podium appearance. The result, combined with the withdrawal of the No. 4 Corvette during the race, moves Müller (preliminary) to second in the GT driver point standings, 13 points behind the leaders.
Despite qualifying fourth, Edwards had to start the No. 56 car from the rear of the entire field of 33 cars due to a miscue of the team with the qualifying tires. He charged back to fifth in class before pitting on lap 24, some 50 minutes into the race. Müller rejoined the race in ninth and drove an equally strong first stint to be in third before making his final pit stop on lap 48. Müller then charged to second position and hounded the leading Corvette for the remainder of the race. On the last lap, he was unable to defend the Viper on the long, uphill front straight and was forced to settle for the last step of the podium.
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