Sears Point ALMS race - BMW Motorsport victory

the O in Jorg, U in Muller and first O in Jonsson are spelled with umlauts


Race Sunday
Round 3, American Le Mans Series
22 July 2001, Sonoma, Calif.

BMW Motorsport victory in Sonoma GT class

Munich/Sonoma.   BMW Motorsport scored its second-consecutive GT victory in 
Le Mans Series racing, adding Sunday's American Le Mans Series victory on the 
2.52-mile Sears Point Raceway road course to the team's May win in the 
European Le Mans Series at Jarama, Spain.

JJ Lehto (FIN) started fourth in class in the No. 42 BMW M3 GTR and moved to 
third on the first lap.  His co-driver Jorg Muller (D) took the wheel after 
the first hour of the two-hour 45-minute race and moved up to second place 
after a fast pit stop.  Muller stopped during a subsequent caution period for 
four new tires, which gave him the speed he needed to take the class lead and 
hold it for the victory.

Dirk Muller (D) started the No. 43 BMW M3 GTR from the pole position, but 
traded places with the No. 10 BMW Team PTG car driven by Bill Auberlen (USA) 
and Nic Jonsson (S).  Fredrik Ekblom (S) took over at the one-hour mark and 
returned to the track in the lead.  He held first until he was passed by Jorg 
Muller and by Hans Stuck in the No. 6 BMW Team PTG car.  Ekblom passed Stuck 
on the last lap for second place, but the position was disallowed by series 
officials because of contact between the two cars.  Ekblom and Dirk Muller 
finished third, the No. 6 BMW of Stuck and Boris Said (USA) finished second 
and the No. 10 finished fourth.

BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm: "The victory is a fantastic way to 
come back to America and continue our ALMS program.  We saw very good drives 
from JJ and Jorg in BMW 42, and our decision for a second new set of tires 
which we put on Jorg's car during the second caution period paid off.  BMW 43 
had a strong race with Dirk and Fredrik, finishing second on the road, but we 
accept the steward's decision to put us back into third place after contact 
was made in the last corner by Fredrik."
 
JJ Lehto #42:  "It was surprising that we could be so competitive in the 
race.  We've had problems all weekend, but in the race I just took it easy 
and kept up the pace.  Jorg was fast right away and he won the class 
comfortably."
 
Jorg Muller #42:  "Never change a winning team -- don't forget JJ and Jorg!  
We struggled all weekend with our setup, but the key thing was that I took on 
new tires on the second stop.  It was not easy, but thanks to the guys from 
PTG and Fredrik, they left me some space to overtake."
 
Fredrik Ekblom #43:  "Dirk drove well and I couldn't improve on it.  
Congratulations to our teammates for their victory.  With Hans, it was a 
close racing incident.  I tried to take second and we had slight contact.  I 
congratulate Hans and Boris on second place, and I accept the steward's 
decision."

Dirk Muller #43:  "I'm really happy for the first place for our team again, 
same as Jarama.  Congratulations to Jorg and JJ.  They changed their tires 
and we didn't, and that was the race.  But our car was perfect.  Everybody on 
the team did a great job.  We're coming back, race by race getting more 
points."

BMW Press: Guido Stalmann, tel +49 (0) 89 382 23401, fax +49 (0) 89
382 27563, e-mail: Guido.Stalmann@bmw.de

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945