Road America. BMW Team RLL finished fifth in the IMSA
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road America (USA) with
the #25 BMW M8 GTE of Tom Blomqvist (GBR) and Connor De Phillippi
(USA) after a very difficult day. Suffering technical problems, the
#24 sister car finished eighth in the GTLM class. Turner Motorsport
stepped onto the GTD class podium for the fourth time in a row with
the BMW M6 GT3.
Blomqvist had driven the #25 car to pole position on Saturday with
Jesse Krohn (FIN) setting the third fastest time in the #24 BMW M8
GTE. But what was thought to be the team’s second best qualifying
effort of the 2019 IMSA season quickly turned to disappointment as
both BMW M8 GTE racing cars were disqualified following the
post-qualifying technical inspection. Both cars had to start from the
rear of the class.
During the 2:40-hour race both crews gave their best to fight their
ways through the GTLM field. The mid-point of the race saw John
Edwards (USA) leading the race for a couple of laps, but a brake
failure and the additional pit stop for repairs cost several laps, so
a top result was impossible. De Phillippi drove a strong last stint in
the #25 BMW M8 GTE to finish fifth and remain the top BMW driver in
the GTLM points standings.
Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley (both USA) raced the #96 BMW M6 GT3 to
a third place finish in the GT Daytona class. A fourth consecutive
podium finish keeps the Turner Motorsport drivers securely second in
the driver points standings.
Connor De Phillippi (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 5th place):
“We really need to do a better job for these next
couple of events. We have a good car, we just need to put the pieces
of the puzzle together to execute and get onto the podium.”
Tom Blomqvist (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 5th
place): “Very disappointing result because we had a quick car
this weekend. We need to get on top of the issues and resolve them.
The drivers and crew are all giving it their best. We are just not
getting the results so we need to look at ourselves and find out why.”
John Edwards (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“It was unfortunate that we were side-lined by some technical issues.
We were set up for a good finish and our pit strategy helped us get
ahead of several cars. We were hoping to come away with a good result
but it was not to be.”
Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“Today was obviously a difficult day. We need to investigate what went
wrong. We had a great car but had some issues which made it difficult
to keep pace. We need to see what happened and fix what needs to be
fixed so we can move forward.”