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Second place in Virginia for M8 GTE

The Motul sponsored Spengler/De Philippi #25 M8 GTE swept to a second place finish in the GTLM Class at VIR, and then a few weeks later they charged to class victory at Atlanta, holding off a Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to clinch the win

BMW Team RLL enjoyed a mixed bag of results at the latest round of the IMSAWeathertech Sportscar Championship in late August at Virginia International Raceway (VIR).

Qualifying - The #25 BMW M8 GTE qualified third in the hands of Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler, with the sister #24 car of Edwards/Krohn just a place behind, starting from fourth position. Race - The race itself, held over 2-hours 40-minutes, was pretty undramatic. Pole position-holder Nick Tandy and Fred Makowiecki led the race comfortably in their Porsche 911 RSR, followed by the Corvette C8.R of Taylor/Garcia and the De Philippi/ Spengler #25 M8 GTE. Unfortunately the #24 M8 GTE piloted by Edwards/ Krohn suffered a mechanical problem early in the race, which was eventually fixed by their pit crew but it sadly left them 19 laps down and they brought the car home in sixth spot.

The race took a dramatic twist with just 18 minutes to go when the Tandy/Makowiecki 911 RSR suffered a bad cut to the left rear tyre, forcing Tandy into the pit to change tyres. He emerged in third position with the De Philippi/Spengler M8 GTE moving up into second. As hard as the BMW drivers tried, they couldn’t pass the Taylor/Garcia Corvette, which had fortuitously taken the lead after the Porsche’s puncture, and they held on to finish as winners of the GTLM Class in their Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

De Philippi/Spengler had to be extremely mindful of the hard charging Tandy in the 911 RSR in the final few laps, which allowed Garcia time to relax in the winning Corvette while the BMW pairing had to then defend their second place from Tandy’s rapid Porsche. At the chequered flag the M8 GTE of De Philippi/Spengler managed to fend off Tandy’s 911 RSR to secure second place on the podium for the BMW team. A disappointed Tandy was disconsolate on finishing third – that’s racing!

BMW’s M8 GTE victorious in Atlanta!

waved, there was just a two-lap shootout remaining. Thankfully, Drivers Championship and BMW second in the Manufacturers

BMW Team RLL swept to GTLM Class victory in the 254-lap, 6 Hour TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in early September, as the BMW M8 GTEs secured a one-three finish for BMW Motorsport.

Qualifying – A tough session for the BMW M8 GTEs saw the #25 car of De Philippi/Spengler qualify fifth in class and the #24 car of Edwards/Krohn sixth. Nick Tandy snatched pole in his Porsche 911 RSR, but this time qualifying for the entire six-car class was separated by a miniscule 0.192 seconds, about half the time it takes a human to blink, promising a close race the following day.

Race – Tandy had a good start in the 911 RSR, followed by the two Corvettes and the second 911 RSR, but the BMWs kept Tandy in their sights as the race settled down. As the cars made their pit stops the lead changed hands several times over the next five hours, but with 55mins to go the #25 M8 GTE made its move. Spengler pitted early, and after a quick splash and dash and with a new set of tyres safely onboard, De Philippi stormed out of the pits in pursuit of the Porsches and Corvettes. The early stop took the rival teams by surprise as they pitted one lap later, and as they pitted, De Philippi, his tyres now nicely warm, performed a masterclass in overtaking as he swept past the leaders on their outlap. The opposition Porsches and Corvettes, still bringing their tyres up to full operating temperature, couldn’t do anything to stop the BMW as it picked them off one by one second gap on the second placed Corvette C8.R and was cruising to victory until panic ensued – a collision between a Cadillac, Acura and a Ferrari brought out a full-course caution with 12 minutes left on the clock, which bunched everyone back up. When the track was finally cleared and the green flag De Phillippi kept his cool and wasted no time in putting several slower GT Daytona cars between himself and the Milner/Gavin Corvette as a buffer and pulled away to win by 4.383 seconds. Krohn/Edwards gave BMW Team RLL a pair of podium finishes by bringing their #24 BMW M8 GTE home in third place.

This win puts De Phillippi and Spengler third in the GTLM to take the lead. De Philippi then opened up a comfortable four

Championship, just eight points behind Chevrolet.

Brands Hatch Full Grid Opener

The long awaiting first BMWCCR race of 2020 at Brands Hatch did not disappoint with regards to action, and despite the wet qualifying and first race it did not dampen the enthusiasm and enjoyment. It was pleasing to welcome several new drivers including three novices, so given the conditions it was potentially a difficult baptism but they all came through with solid results and big smiles.

Qualifying witnessed some interesting performances with an impressive Paul Cook taking pole in his Class M2 E46, alongside newcomer Lee Piercey in his Class M1 E36 M3. There were several new and familiar faces behind them and all the classes were closely matched. It would be a testing race for the drivers throughout the grid.

Given we had a full grid combined with the short Brands Hatch circuit, it was very pleasing to see our three novices, Tom Singleton, Dan Harborow and James Dalzell put in confident laps.

We hoped it would dry for the first race but the drizzle remained making tyre choice difficult, but the car control was impressive through the grid over a longer 20min race this year. Given the size of the grid finding

space to safely pass was going to be difficult in particular when lapping slower cars, from a spectator’s point of view it was exciting but also nerve wracking to watch, but they drove well given the different levels of performance and experience.

The drive of the race came from the reigning M2 champion Graham Crowhurst who came from 5th on the grid, coping well with the wet track to challenge Lee Piercey who led early on and his class challenger Paul Cook, with Garrie Whittaker in the mix. The driving at the front was close and fair with Graham stretching out a gap. With one lap to go he had a big slide, losing a lot of time but was able to celebrate his first overall win in the championship just ahead of the M2 car of Paul Cook, next was Whittaker taking the M1 win. Class 6 was won by Jim Benson, followed by Kevin Denwood and Cavan Grainger in 10th, 11th and 13th overall. The BMWcup class ended with the top three as Watson, Laramy, and Thomas. The top novice finisher was Dan Harborow in 18th place, out of 33 starters.

The damp conditions improved for race 2 assisting some of the more powerful cars and making driving easier for everyone. The lead changed throughout the race with Whittaker, Cook and Crowhurst again emerging as early challengers. The greater power of the M1 cars allowed Garrie Whittaker to take his maiden BMWCCR win with Paul Cook only 3.5 seconds behind. In M1 Michael Eustace capped a solid first meeting with the Club, with a charging Brad Sheehan in third. In M2 Steven Schweikhardt claimed second after and third was Adrian Williams. The BMWcup class was a repeat of race one but Paul Laramy claimed the fastest lap to maintain the small gap to Clive Watson.

This meeting was in memory of longtime supporter Russ Cockburn who passed away in May. He was a legend to many drivers over his life and left an indelible mark on many of the organisers and drivers, so we will be remembering him through the year. I am confident he would have had some wise words on the day’s events.

As we look forward to Oulton Park, the championship leader is Jim Benson, with Garrie Whittaker in second, closely followed by Paul Cook, Michael Eustace and Steve Schweikhardt. With another large grid expected we hope for drier weather at Oulton. Then this great group of drivers will head for Castle Combe where we always receive a warm welcome, followed by our annual visits to Snetterton and Donington when we’ll know who the new champion for 2020 will be.