Munich. BMW Team RLL finished the sixth GTLM round of the IMSA
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Canadian Tire Motorsport
Park in Bowmanville (CAN) in seventh and eighth, after both BMW M8
GTE cars had led parts of the race.
The #25 BMW M8 GTE crossed the line in seventh, 13.7
seconds from the class winning #67 Ford, with Connor De Phillippi
(USA) and Alexander Sims (GBR) sharing the driving duties. The #24 BMW
M8 GTE of John Edwards (USA) and Jesse Krohn (FIN) was forced to
retire from the lead of the race on lap 61 after contact damaged the car.
BMW Customer Racing Team Turner Motorsport did not enjoy a
second consecutive winning weekend. Contact with the #58 Porsche
forced the #96 BMW M6 GT3 to retire on lap 63 after strong drives by
co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley (both USA).
Reactions to IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park:
Connor De Phillippi (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place):
“We were a bit out of sequence in the last hour of the race
due to our strategy choice. On one of the last restarts we were able
to get past one of the Porsche’s, but while battling with a GTD car
when we were lapping him we lost the position. It felt great to be in
the mix and battling in the last twenty minutes of the race, but we
need to continue to work hard.”
Alexander Sims (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 7th place):
“If the safety cars worked out a little bit differently we
could have been in position for a better result. Unfortunately nothing
really played into the strategy. At the end we were in seventh before
anyone pitted and finished seventh. Shame for the #24. They seemed to
have the strategy figured out and it looked as though it was working
out for them until the contact with the Porsche. Overall it was a good
effort from the team.”
Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“The team made a good strategy call splitting the cars on the
first yellow. Ultimately I think we had a shot at a podium but we got
driven off the road and that ended our race.”
John Edwards (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place):
“The car felt good, we were close and had a good strategy
going on but unfortunately we weren’t given the chance to finish it
out and had to retire.”
Next for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the race
at Lime Rock Park (USA) on 21st July.