Bill Auberlen - Daytona podium

Bill Auberlen earned his fourth podium finish of the 2010 season, on the
high banks of Daytona International Speedway. Auberlen, of Redondo Beach,
Calif., Paul Dalla Lana of Toronto and Joey Hand of Sacramento, Calif.,
drove the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 to a second-place GT finish in the
GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race on July 3. The podium followed the
team's first Rolex Series win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on June 19.

 

"Turner's already got a win and a second in the first year of GT
competition, and that is something to hold your head up high about,"
Auberlen said. "Joey and I want to thank Paul Dalla Lana for allowing us to
join him and Northwest Value Partners for this race."

 

Dalla Lana drove the first stint of the two-hour 45-minute race, charging
from his 17th-place starting position to 10th. Auberlen took over, moved up
to second and was closing on the class leader when he pitted for the final
driver change. Hand drove the third stint and took the class lead. The team
gambled on the final pitstop, replacing only two tires, but couldn't hold
off the race-winning Porsche.

 

"My stint was just pure perfection," Auberlen said. "The car was good and
the setup was good. We didn't have much time to work on the setup because we
were going from rain to dry in the practice sessions and we experienced a
misfire during qualifying. But luckily we were at Daytona with the car
earlier in the year, so we had a pretty good setup on the car for the race.

 

"[GT winner] Andy Lally pitted with about 50 minutes to go - he put on four
tires and fueled up. We came in and put only right side tires on. Joey did a
great job trying to defend the position, but our car wasn't fast enough to
race the Porsche. We took a little bit of a risk on the pitstop, only taking
on right side tires and we short-fueled the car, just to make it to the end.
Andy was able to get around Joey for the win, but you cannot be mad at a
podium finish."

 

The sultry Florida heat taxed car and drivers. To demonstrate, the Turner
crew placed a frozen hamburger in the race car at the start of the race. It
cooked to well-done by the end of the race. Auberlen credited his sponsor
for giving the drivers the stamina to complete the race.

 

"Performance Drink gave us the power to make it to the end," he said.

 

Bill Auberlen has driven BMW cars in more races than any other driver in the
world. He has won six professional auto-racing championships, four with BMW
power. He has competed in 418 professional races to date, 261 in BMWs. His
results include 79 race victories, 156 podium finishes, 55 pole positions,
70 fastest race laps and 104 records. 

 

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Sylvia Proudfoot

sylvia@spurcom.ca

403 287 3945