ALMS Mosport qualifying - BMW Motorsport

Qualifying Saturday
Round 5, American Le Mans Series
18 August 2001, Bowmanville, Ont.

BMW front row in Mosport qualifying

Munich/Bowmanville.  BMW Motorsport will start from the GT class pole for 
Sunday's round five of the American Le Mans Series at Mosport International 
Raceway.  Dirk Müller qualified the No. 43 GTR that he shares with Fredrik 
Ekblom (S) in one minute 18.873 seconds on the 2.459-mile road course to take 
the pole position.  JJ Lehto (FIN) posted the fastest time of 1:18.840 in the 
No. 42 BMW M3 GTR, but his time was disallowed for a car ride-height 
infraction.  He and his co-driver Jörg Müller (D) will start at the back of 
the field.

BMW Team PTG drivers Hans-J. Stuck (D) and Boris Said (USA) will start second 
in the No. 6 BMW M3 GTR (1:19.428).

BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm:  "It was a very good qualifying for 
us in terms of the performance we were able to dial into our BMWs.  We are 
sorry for JJ that his pole position time was disallowed:  Both our cars were 
adjusted and checked to the same ride height prior to the practice, so we 
have to investigate why car 42 failed the post-qualifying test."

JJ Lehto #42:  "It was a surprisingly slow track compared to what we had in 
the morning.  There were some races in between and that made the circuit much 
more slippery, so it was difficult to find grip.  We are happy with the car 
for the race, after we have been playing with the setup a lot this weekend.  
All of our mechanics have been working very hard to get the car closer to 
what Jörg and I like to drive."
 
Jörg Müller #42:  "It's quite close, isn't it?  Both of the cars are quite 
equal.  I was happy that we were on pole position, but it doesn't matter.  
For the race, it's important how long the tires last and how the crew works 
during pit stops, so the race is much longer than just 20 minutes of 
qualifying."
 
Fredrik Ekblom #43:  "Dirk has been really quick all weekend, and there's 
just nothing in between the team cars.  We'll be racing hard tomorrow for the 
win, for sure.  The track seems to change a lot, from hour to hour and from 
10 minutes to the next 10 minutes.  But we're fairly happy with the car.  I 
think we have a very good chance for Dirk and myself tomorrow."
 
Dirk Müller #43:  "I'm happy for the team, that we did the pole.  Fredrik and 
I have improved the car step by step, so thanks a lot to the guys on the 
crew!"

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