Sears Point ALMS Qualifying - BMW Motorsport Record Pole
Qualifying Saturday
Round 3, American Le Mans Series
21 July 2001, Sonoma, Calif.
record pole position for BMW Motorsport
Munich/Sonoma. BMW Motorsport driver Dirk Muller (D) broke his own track
record to qualify on the GT pole position for Sunday's American Le Mans
Series race at Sears Point Raceway. Müller covered the 2.52-mile
road course in one minute 33.763 seconds to take his third-consecutive GT
pole position in the new No. 43 BMW M3 GTR. He also won the poles at
the European Le Mans Series races in Donington, England, and Jarama,
Spain. He will share driving duties with Fredrik Ekblom (S) in the
two-hour 45-minute race. JJ Lehto (FIN) and Jorg Muller will start
fourth in class, after Lehto qualified the No. 42 GTR in 1:34.448.
BMW Team PTG drivers Bill Auberlen (USA) and Niclas Jonsson (S) will start
second in class in the No. 10 BMW M3 GTR (1:33.910), and Hans-J. Stuck (D)
and Boris Said (USA) will start third in the No. 6 GTR (1:34.149).
BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm: "It is good to be back at
the race track and competing again after a two-month break in our race
schedule. It's also nice to be back in the United States and the
ALMS for a very intense period of racing, starting with the race at Sears
Point. We're happy for Dirk to score another pole with the 43 BMW.
JJ didn't have an ideal qualifying, as he was fighting some oversteer.
We'll have to address that tonight to give him a good race car for
tomorrow."
JJ Lehto #42: "We can't get it dialed in. Normally, we have a
lot of understeer and now we have a massive oversteer. We'll just
have to get it right."
Jorg Muller #42: "At least we're in front of the Porsches. JJ
had a bit of traffic and we still have some problems with our car -- we
can't find the proper setup yet. It's going to be a late night to
work on it."
Fredrik Ekblom #43: "Dirk did a fantastic job. I've
never been to this track and it's quite difficult with all the hills and
crests. Dirk won here last year, so I knew he would do a good job in
qualifying."
Dirk Muller #43: "I'm really, really happy to be on pole for
the third time in a row. I'm really happy to race with Fredrik
again. Both of us are quick over here and the Schnitzer team did a
fantastic job all weekend. They got better and better from practice
to practice and finally in qualifying, we are on the pole. With the
whole team effort we've had in the past, I'm quite confident for
tomorrow."
BMW Press: Guido Stalmann, tel +49 (0) 89 382 23401, fax +49 (0) 89
382 27563, e-mail: Guido.Stalmann@bmw.de
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