BMW Takes 1-2-3-4 @ Lime Rock
1 June 1999
BMW Team PTG Notes: May 31 Lime Rock Park, 1999 Dodge Dealers Grand Prix Race Two, United States Road Racing Championship BMW M3s finished 1-2-3-4 in the GT3 class of the Dodge Dealers Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Hans Stuck and Boris Said took the class victory in the BMW Team PTG #10 car, despite losing more than two minutes after Said was hit by another car. The #6 PTG M3, driven by Peter Cunningham and Mark Simo, was second, and the #7, co-driven by Brian Cunningham and Johannes van Overbeek, was third. The #51 Aspen Knolls privateer M3 was fourth in class with drivers Shane Lewis and Bob Mazzuoccola. Tom Milner, team owner, BMW Team PTG "I think it's good for the team to come through everything, despite being hit by two cars and getting flat tires. Both Boris and P.D. [Cunningham] got hit by the same car. There was good competition among the team's drivers and it was a good weekend." Hans Stuck, driver, #10 BMW M3 "Boris drove the thing at the base, I drove it to the end. We had a bit of a mix-up because when he came in, I wasn't ready. Then we lost radio communication -- my engineer couldn't talk to me so I didn't know where I was. I just kept going as decent as possible. This is my first win for PTG and I've very proud about it. It took me three races to do it, but now I know how it works. When I do my book, I'm going to write three chapters about my fellow drivers -- Derek Bell, Thierry Boutsen and him [Said]. Those are the best three co-drivers I've ever had in my career." Boris Said, driver, #10 BMW M3 "At the beginning of the race, it seemed like it would be business as usual. We had the car to beat and then unexpected things happened and I got run off the road and I thought it was over. No one else but Hans could have done what he did, to come back from two minutes behind. He was my favorite driver growing up and it's hard to believe that I'm finally racing with him. After getting to know him more and more, it seems like for sure we were separated at birth across the Atlantic. It feels great to finally win a race." Mark Simo, driver, #6 BMW M3 "We ran out of fuel on the last lap, but we had a little bit of reserve left, so we were in pretty good shape. I'm happy for the team to get first, second and third. But even if I got second, I would have rather had a closer battle. I hadn't realized I was that out of shape with the heat. I couldn't get a rhythm and was probably over- driving it, but I'll work on it. Believe me, I'll be one of the most fit drivers out there by the next race." Johannes van Overbeek, driver, #7 BMW M3 "The ABS failed on the car, almost from the start of the race. Figuring out the threshold on the brakes was a bit of a challenge for the first couple of laps, but after that we were able to run a good pace. But without ABS, we couldn't get the extra second we needed to be competitive."