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Although BMW M Team RLL only has a handful of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races left to run with its BMW M Hybrid V8, the team is poised to make them count.
Strategy played into their race at Road America today as the team called both cars into the pits with one hour to go in the two-hour, 40-minute Motul SportsCar Grand Prix on Sunday at Road America, near Elkhart Lake, Wisc. When the fifth full-course caution flew seven minutes later, suddenly the tables turned in their favor.
It ensured the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor scored the victory ahead of their teammate, the No. 25 BMW of Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde. It’s the team’s second 1-2 finish in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), first since the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks last September at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Motul Pole Award-winning No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 of Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande finished third on a traditional strategy. Van der Zande made it interesting late, though, as he got within a second of the two BMWs with five minutes remaining.
BMW doubled up with the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Neil Verhagen and Madison Snow claiming the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class victory as well, with the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 and No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 completing the podium.
LMP2
In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), a pair of former GTP veterans led the field home in a 1-2 result. Dane Cameron and PJ Hyett won their second straight LMP2 race aboard “Spike,” the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07, ahead of Connor De Phillippi and Jeremy Clarke in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competion ORECA and Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA.
GTD
The Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class lead changed hands inside the final seven minutes when Kenton Koch made a pass of Alec Udell at Turn 6. Koch took the No. 021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 to the win along with Onofrio Triarsi, with the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Mario Farnbacher and Misha Goikhberg second and the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari of Daniel Serra and Manny Franco third.
Corvette had a bittersweet final five minutes with the Udell and Robert Wickens-driven No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which is equipped with a Bosch electronic hand braking system for Wickens, falling to fourth. The No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R also fell off the podium to fourth.
Up Next
The next race is a showcase for the two WeatherTech Championship GT classes with the Michelin GT Challenge from VIRginia International Raceway on August 25. All four WeatherTech Championship classes return to action in the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks, September 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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