BMW Team RLL – Michelin GT Challenge at VIR - Race Final

Fifth and eighth after a hot race in Virginia.

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – Aug. 28, 2016… In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, the two BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLMs finished fifth and eighth in the race that was only for GT cars. It was the No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM of Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner that finished ahead of the No. 100 sister car of John Edwards and Lucas Luhr. The leading cars completed 90 laps of the 3.27-mile, 18-turn VIRginia International Raceway in the two-hour-and-forty-minute race that had just one full course yellow six minutes from the checkered flag. The GTLM class win went to the No. 3 Corvette.

From fifth and sixth on the grid, after a clean start, it was Werner who had the best getaway and at the end of lap one had moved ahead of Edwards. Then on lap two the No. 100 slipped to seventh and remained in this position until, at the end of lap 13 after 22 minutes of running, it lost its right rear wheel. Edwards managed to get back to the pits for four new tires and fuel, but then received a drive through for a pit stop penalty, which he took at the end of lap 15, and this dropped him back to 18th overall and ninth in class. It also forced a change of strategy from two to three stops. By then the No. 25 car, which was a lap ahead, had moved up to third, 3.8 secs off the lead.

At the 40-minute mark and after 23 laps, Werner was still third and Edwards was fighting his way through the GTD field from last in the GTLM class. On lap 25 Werner had a short excursion off the track and dropped down to seventh and 15 secs off the lead. At the end of lap 30 Werner pitted and Auberlen took over after the car was refueled and fitted with new tires. Following the first round of pits stops for the GTLM class, and at the end of lap 33 and the first hour of running, Auberlen was seventh and Edwards ninth in class and back on the same lap as the leaders. Edwards pitted for new tires and fuel on lap 41 and Luhr took over at the wheel of the No. 100 car. Auberlen was running eighth at the halfway mark with 44 laps completed.
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