BMW Team RLL to start 10th and 11th at Rolex 24 At Daytona

The first qualifying session of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) was quite difficult for the BMW Team RLL in Daytona (USA). Bill Auberlen (USA) qualified 10th with the number 19 BMW M6 GTLM Art Car while John Edwards (USA) qualified for 11th in the number 24 BMW M6 GTLM.

Bobby Rahal (Team Principal, BMW Team RLL): “Naturally, we’d like to be a little bit more competitive. We’re not far from the Corvettes, but the Ford and Ferrari are considerably quicker just like last year. That’s disappointing. A lot can go on in 24 hours – we have to run a better race than they do, and not make mistakes. It sounds simple, but you have to stay out of the pits and have a trouble free race. The new drivers have fitted in so well already, alongside guys we know really well.”

Bill Auberlen (No. 19 BMW M6 GTLM, 10th place): “It’s not ideal, because what we’ve got now we’ve got for 24 hours. This pace isn’t showing the quality of this team. The driver line up around me is amazing. Even if the odds aren’t in our favour, we’ll do everything we can to get a good result.”

John Edwards (No. 24 BMW M6 GTLM, 11th place): “It’s obviously never where you want to start, but with 24 hours of racing ahead of us we have an opportunity to make up some ground. Anything can happen in a race this long.”
A 90-minute night practice session is scheduled today at 19:00hrs. On Friday, the BMW drivers will contest the fourth and final practice session from 10:00 to 11:00hrs. The 24-hour race will then go green on Saturday at 14:30hrs.