ALMS: BMW Team PTG Povisional Qualifying Notes: Grand Prix or Sonoma
24 July 1999
BMW Team PTG notes: practice/qualifying, July 23 Grand Prix of Sonoma, Sears Point Raceway race three, American Le Mans Series BMW Team PTG's new #9 M3 is second on the provisional GT grid for Sunday's race, with final qualifying scheduled for Saturday. Boris Said led the four-car team effort with a time of one minute 36.645 seconds at an average speed of 93.869 miles per hour. Darren Law was fifth in class in the #10 BMW M3, Mark Simo put forth a last-lap effort to seventh in the #6 car and Christian Menzel was 10th in the #7 M3. Boris Said, driver, #9 BMW M3 "I had a really good lap, so I can't complain. Porsche has a new car, so the tables are finally turned and they're a little ahead of us now. We'll just work harder. We've got a good race car, so we'll be okay in the race." Mark Simo, driver, #6 BMW M3 "I felt like I had a personal gain. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm happy with where I am right now. I started to run out of fuel, so I went to the reserve button and I knew I had about one lap left. I said, 'This is it. Either you do it now or forget about it.' It sure is nice to sleep on getting a little bit of a gain. I've got to find that same percentage gain tomorrow to make it meaningful for the weekend. But step one is complete." Darren Law, driver, #7 BMW M3 "I went out behind Boris [Said] to try to get a lead on the line. For me, the car is handling pretty good. I'm just learning how to drive the BMWs compared to what I've been in this year and it's coming along. We're getting closer -- we're second quick in the team -- and I think we'll do better tomorrow." Christian Menzel, driver, #10 BMW M3 "I'm sure there is much more possible, but I need a little bit more time and practice. It's very difficult for a newcomer to be good here. It's down and up, and when you have a problem, you have no gravel fields. If you go out, you crash the car. I need more time to understand what is good, what is bad. I'm sure the car is much, much better than the driver at the moment!" Sears Point set-up: Brian Krem, engineer "The biggest challenge for setting the car up here is how much the track changes from morning to afternoon. In the morning it's relatively cool here, 65 to 68 degrees. You can reach into the high 70s, low 80s easily in the afternoon. It's always overcast in the morning, and bright sun in the afternoon. You almost always throw away your morning times and concentrate on the data you collect in the afternoon." ###
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