ALMS Portland Race - BMW Motorsport
Race Sunday
Round 4, American Le Mans Series
5 August 2001, Portland, Ore.
BMW Motorsport third and fourth in Portland
Munich/Portland. BMW Motorsport led most of Sunday's American
Le Mans Series GT race at Portland International Raceway, but pitstops
during a late-race caution period left the team third and fourth.
JJ Lehto (FIN) started the No. 42 BMW M3 GTR second in class, but dropped
to fourth after the first hour of the two-hour 45-minute race when the
hot, slick 1.944-mile track took its toll on tires. Jörg Müller
(D) took the second stint and raced in second and third position until the
final caution period with 20 minutes remaining. The team took
advantage of the caution to change tires and return Lehto to the wheel,
but the remaining time was too short to improve on third place.
Fredrik Ekblom (S) started fourth in the No. 43 GTR, but his first driving
stint was short. The team elected to change drivers during an early
caution, just 15 minutes into the race. Dirk Müller (D) took over,
took the class lead after 50 minutes of the race and held the lead until
he pitted at the 90-minute mark. Ekblom drove the final stint and
held the class lead until the last caution period, when he pitted for
tires. He returned to the track in fourth place and held the
position to the checkered flag.
BMW Team PTG drivers Hans-J Stuck (D) and Boris Said (USA) won the GT
class in the No. 6 BMW M3 GTR and their teammates Bill Auberlen (USA) and
Niclas Jönsson (S) finished eighth in class in the No. 10 GTR after
retiring with a gearbox problem.
BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm: "Our BMWs 42 and 43
were in first and third position, respectively, until 20 minutes from the
end of the race, and there was a comfortable gap to the cars which were
following us. The full-couse yellow at that moment brought us into a
no-way-out situation: We needed new tires for the sprint to the
finish, but we sacrificed our track position and we could not gain it
back. The positive thing is we could finish and score points."
JJ Lehto #42: "The most important thing for us is not to win
all the races, but to stay ahead of the leading Porsche. And we're
third today, behind a Porsche. That's not good enough."
Jörg Müller #42: "I was quite [vulnerable] at the end because
we didn't have any air in the car. The driver cooling system failed
after five or six laps and it was really exhausting in the car."
Fredrik Ekblom #43: "It was obviously not so good to finish
fourth. I was in the lead almost all of my last stint, the car was
good and everything worked fine, but the last yellow flag situation didn't
go our way. But we'll come back fighting."
Dirk Müller #43: "We had a good car to win the race, we had
the lead for more 50 per cent of the race and we had really great
potential with Fredrik to win it. We have to look in the future, but
I'm really disappointed to finish fourth."
leading GT results:
1. Boris Said (USA), Hans Stuck (D), BMW M3 GTR, 121 laps
2. Lucas Luhr (D), Sascha Massen (D), Porsche GT3 RS, -1 lap
3. JJ Lehto (FIN), Jörg Müller (D), BMW M3 GTR, -1 lap
4. Dirk Müller (D), Fredrik Ekblom (S), BMW M3 GTR, - 1 lap
5. Randy Pobst (USA), Christian Menzel (D), Porsche GT3 RS, - 3 laps
6. Timo Bernard (D), Johnny Mowlem (GB), Porsche GT3 RS, - 3 laps
BMW Press: Guido Stalmann, tel +49 (0) 89 382 23401,
fax +49 (0) 89 382 27563, e-mail: Guido.Stalmann@bmw.de
###
Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945