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BMW M Team RLL Overcomes Adversity To Finish 5th And 6th At Watkins Glen
The BMW M Team RLL #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 was in the spotlight again at Watkins Glen International, but for a different reason this time. After a practice accident on Saturday, the team managed to completely rebuild the car overnight and send it into the 6-hour race. Despite a turbulent race with numerous yellow phases, rain showers, and a race interruption, the #25 car finished in sixth place.
Connor De Phillippi (USA) lost control of his car during practice and crashed into the track barrier. The damage was so severe that BMW M Team RLL had to use a different chassis and rebuild the car overnight. Just minutes before the start, the car rolled to the end of the pit lane, from where it began the race. Despite missing the formation lap and receiving a drive-through penalty, De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly (GBR) staged an impressive comeback to finish in sixth place.
Philipp Eng (AUT) and Jesse Krohn (FIN), driving the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, started from eighth place and worked their way up to fifth. In the GTD class, Robby Foley, Patrick Gallagher, and Jake Walker (all USA) drove the Turner Motorsport #96 BMW M4 GT3 into fifth place. Meanwhile, in the GTD-PRO category, Paul Miller Racing's #1 BMW M4 GT3 with drivers Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers, and Neil Verhagen (all USA) fell to eighth place due to penalties during a restart phase just before the end.
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, praised the team's effort: "The herculean effort of BMW M Team RLL and the BMW M Motorsport crew in rebuilding the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 was remarkable and deserves great recognition. Thank you to all involved for their fantastic commitment! From a sporting perspective, however, the course of the weekend at Watkins Glen is disappointing as after last year's victory we had high hopes of achieving another good result."
Philipp Eng commented on their performance: "Fifth place is not the result we wanted, but except for qualifying where we had balance issues, I was quite satisfied with our pace over the weekend. We had the fastest time in practice, and I could also keep up with the pace of the Cadillacs in the race. After a pit stop, I even led for a few laps. Our focus is now on Road America."
Connor De Phillippi expressed gratitude towards his team: "Thank you to the entire team for their incredible effort to get the car to start after my accident on Saturday! This applies not only to our number 25 crew but to everyone as number 24 team also helped. For everyone it was like a 24-hour race. The car was only finished just before start so for us it was just about completing a clean race."
The next challenge for BMW M Team RLL will be at Road America where they hope to turn things around. The potential of their cars has been evident but translating that into results remains their goal.
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