The North East Grand Prix in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Lime Rock Park (USA) turned out to be a difficult one for BMW Team RLL. Tom Blomqvist (GBR) and Connor De Phillippi (USA) finished seventh of the GTLM class in the #25 BMW M8 GTE after starting third. Jesse Krohn (FIN) and John Edwards (USA), driving the #24 BMW M8 GTE, finished in eighth place. Overall, this result comes as a disappointment after the team had such a strong performance at the last race, starting from the front row and finishing second and fourth, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CAN).Â
In the GTD class, Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley (both USA) raced the Turner Motorsport #96 BMW M6 GT3 to a third place finish. It was their third consecutive podium finish, after second place at Watkins Glen International (USA) and a victory in the most recent round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be held on 4thAugust at Road America (USA).
Quotes after the race at Lime Rock Park.
Brandon Fry (Technical Director BMW Team RLL): “We certainly had high hopes for the race after qualifying – especially with the #25 BMW M8 GTE starting third. The #24 BMW M8 GTE had an issue early in the race and with this being a fully green flag race, it was always going to be tough to make that time up that again. The tyre degradation of the #25 car was just not predictable and with that being the deciding factor here at Lime Rock, we just fell out of the running.â€
Tom Blomqvist (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place): “The only real positive to take from this race was our pace in qualifying. It was a tough race for everyone but we just didn’t execute flawlessly and in this series any small mistake can set you back.â€
Connor De Phillippi (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place): “Tyre management was really tough today with the heat. We certainly set the bar high for ourselves after qualifying, but we just couldn’t translate that pace to the race.â€
John Edwards (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place): “Days like today are really tough to stomach. Early in the race we ended up behind and just never got the opportunity to make that time up again. However, days like today makes our podium feel even better.â€
Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place): “Today was not what we expected, but we could not execute the strategy to get a result. We need to look at the data and see where we can improve for Road America.â€