ALMS Laguna Seca qualifying - BMW Motorsport

Qualifying Friday
Round 7, American Le Mans Series
8 September 2001, Monterey, Calif.

BMW Motorsport front row in Laguna Seca qualifying

Munich/Monterey.  BMW Motorsport will start side-by-side on the front row of 
the GT class for Sunday's round seven of the American Le Mans Series at 
Laguna Seca.  JJ Lehto (FIN) posted a record GT pole position time of one 
minute 26.265 seconds on the 2.238-mile road course in the No. 42 BMW M3 GTR 
that he shares with Jörg Müller (D).  Fredrik Ekblom (S) and Dirk Müller (D) 
will start second in class after Müller qualified the No. 43 GTR in 1:26.402. 
 

BMW Team PTG drivers Bill Auberlen (USA) and Boris Said (USA) will start 
fourth in the No. 10 BMW M3 GTR (1:26.705), and Hans-J. Stuck (D) and Niclas 
Jönsson (S) will start fifth in the No. 6 GTR (1:26.951).

BMW Motorsport team manager Charly Lamm:  "We had a really good qualifying.  
BMW 42 has progressed a lot with the setup during the last few weeks, and I'm 
very glad JJ could use that momentum for Laguna Seca qualifying.  Dirk was a 
little bit unlucky in BMW 43 because the session was black-flagged when his 
tires were at their best, so that cost him some time.  But both our cars are 
on the front row and that puts us in a good position for a strong race 
tomorrow."

 JJ Lehto #42:  "Once everything comes together, it's great.  We had a lot of 
balance problems in the first and second practice, but we found a way to get 
around them and changed a lot of things.  The car was really, really good.  
It's great to be first and second again.  I only did four laps, so I saved 
the tires for the race."

Jörg Müller #42:  "We're right back with our car where we had it the last two 
races and it's to our liking.  Now it goes fast again.  We'll just have to 
save the tires in the race and work on the race setup."

Fredrik Ekblom #43:  "It's a good day for BMW, JJ and Dirk were very quick 
and there was very little time in between them.  We've been working hard and 
I think we have a very good balance in the car for tomorrow.  We have to see 
how we'll do over the long stints because we haven't had long practices, but 
I'm really confident."

Dirk Müller #43:  "I'm really happy for the team to be one and two.  I got a 
good spot and made a little mistake and had to cool down, then we got the 
black flag.  The next lap would have been the quickest one but I had a 
Porsche in front of me, so I had to cool down again.  I think I could have 
done better, but one-two is good for the team."


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