Click it and Unblock the Notifications
IMSA: BMW M Hybrid V8 Achieves Pole Position And Third Place Finish At Laguna Seca
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca saw BMW M Team RLL continue their strong performance. Dries Vanthoor, driving the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, secured his fourth pole position this season. He and teammate Philipp Eng finished third in a dramatic race, marking their second podium of the season after Long Beach.
At the start of the two-hour and 40-minute race, Vanthoor maintained a lead for 50 minutes. However, lapped traffic allowed competitors to close in, leading to a tight battle for the top three positions. After a late pit stop, Eng rejoined in third place and stayed close to the leading Porsches.
In car #25, Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde also showcased strong performance. Starting from sixth place, they opted for an early pit stop strategy. This initially dropped them back but Wittmann climbed from seventh to fourth within a few laps.
The final phase of the race was tense with no full course yellows to neutralise the field. Vanthoor was just tenths behind in third place, waiting for an opportunity to attack. In a dramatic last corner incident, he was touched and spun off but managed to finish third.
The BMW M4 GT3 EVO teams faced challenges at Laguna Seca. In the GTD-Pro class, Dan Harper and Max Hesse finished fifth in car #48 from Paul Miller Racing. Their teammates Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen ended up tenth in car #1.
In the GTD class, Turner Motorsport's #96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO driven by Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished ninth. Despite these results, BMW M Team RLL showed competitiveness throughout the weekend.
Comments from Drivers and Team
Dries Vanthoor expressed satisfaction with their performance: "I think P3 was almost the maximum we could have achieved today. The Porsches were again strong but we had a good race, the team did a great job." He acknowledged that being pushed off in the last corner was unfortunate but considered it a racing incident.
Philipp Eng shared his thoughts: "It was a very exciting race and a very good weekend overall. Qualifying again was great from Dries and the entire team." He noted that while they wanted victory, P3 was still a positive result.
Marco Wittmann reflected on their challenges: "It was a difficult weekend for us, we had some issues in FP2 and qualifying." Despite this, he felt they made progress during the race and were happy with fourth place given the circumstances.
Team's Perspective on Performance
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport, commented on their progress: "The race weekend at Laguna Seca confirmed that we’ve continued to close the gap and are now fighting for top positions with the performance of our BMW M Hybrid V8." He praised Vanthoor's pole position achievement as sensational.
The team is focused on improving further to secure victories in future races. Roos emphasised their upward trend and commitment to rewarding everyone's hard work with wins soon.
Continue with Google