BMW Team RLL finished fifth in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road America (USA) with the #25 BMW M8 GTE of Tom Blomqvist (GBR) and Connor De Phillippi (USA) after a very difficult day. Suffering technical problems, the #24 sister car finished eighth in the GTLM class.
Turner Motorsport stepped onto the GTD class podium for the fourth time in a row with the BMW M6 GT3.
Blomqvist had driven the #25 car to pole position on Saturday with Jesse Krohn (FIN) setting the third fastest time in the #24 BMW M8 GTE.
But what was thought to be the team’s second best qualifying effort of the 2019 IMSA season quickly turned to disappointment as both BMW M8 GTE racing cars were disqualified following the post-qualifying technical inspection. Both cars had to start from the rear of the class.
During the 2:40-hour race both crews gave their best to fight their ways through the GTLM field.
The mid-point of the race saw John Edwards (USA) leading the race for a couple of laps, but a brake failure and the additional pit stop for repairs cost several laps, so a top result was impossible. De Phillippi drove a strong last stint in the #25 BMW M8 GTE to finish fifth and remain the top BMW driver in the GTLM points standings.
Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley (both USA) raced the #96 BMW M6 GT3 to a third place finish in the GT Daytona class.
A fourth consecutive podium finish keeps the Turner Motorsport drivers securely second in the driver points standings.
Connor De Phillippi (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 5th place): “We really need to do a better job for these next couple of events. We have a good car, we just need to put the pieces of the puzzle together to execute and get onto the podium.”
Tom Blomqvist (#25 BMW M8 GTE, 5th place): “Very disappointing result because we had a quick car this weekend. We need to get on top of the issues and resolve them. The drivers and crew are all giving it their best. We are just not getting the results so we need to look at ourselves and find out why.”
John Edwards (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place): “It was unfortunate that we were side-lined by some technical issues. We were set up for a good finish and our pit strategy helped us get ahead of several cars. We were hoping to come away with a good result but it was not to be.”
Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M8 GTE, 8th place): “Today was obviously a difficult day. We need to investigate what went wrong. We had a great car but had some issues which made it difficult to keep pace. We need to see what happened and fix what needs to be fixed so we can move forward.”
