ALMS: BMW M3 top-10 qualifying effort at Sebring
17 March 2000
BMW Team PTG notes: final qualifying, March 16, 2000 Superflo 12 Hours at Sebring, Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway race one of 12, American Le Mans Series BMW M3s will start Saturday's 12 Hours at Sebring race from fifth and eighth positions on the 17-car GT grid. Peter Cunningham qualified the #10 BMW M3 fifth in class with a time of two minutes, 8.736 seconds (103.46 mph). Boris Said qualified the new #6 BMW M3 eighth (2:10.272, 102.24 mph). Said and co-drivers Hans Stuck and Johannes van Overbeek will get a new door for their car late this evening, and will have an opportunity to practice with the new equipment on Friday. Darren Law, driver, #10 BMW M3 "We went out more than anything just to hold our position. We knew the car wasn't going to be a whole lot better or faster than what it was. I got stuck in traffic and had a guy park it in front of me, so there wasn't much I could do on either of my fast laps. But we're in the top five, so we've got a good shot, for sure." Boris Said, driver, #6 BMW M3 "We're kinda stuck in a time that we're running, so that's a little discouraging. I think we know where we need to go. We just need to make some pieces and some different stuff to put on the car. But in 12 hours, the fastest car doesn't always win. It's built reliable, so we'll see where the chips fall at the end of 12 hours. Everything's running good, let's line up to race. We've been here too long already. Let's go!" Tom Salkowsky, motorsport manager, BMW of North America, Inc. "We couldn't pick a better opportunity to introduce the new M3 race car than at Sebring. Harking back to 1975 and the win with the 3.5 CSL and having people like Sam Posey and Brian Redman here, there's a lot of nostalgia. The new M3 production car is by far the best M3 that we've brought to market. We think the new car has a very bright future, not only in the showroom but on the race track." Arctic adventure BMW Team PTG driver Hans Stuck was in the Canadian North this month as a member of the test crew setting up an Arctic challenge for a German tire manufacturer. The event will include a kart race, dogsled race, snowmobile race, mountain orientation run on snowshoes, parallel slalom ski course, ice fishing, ice climbing and navigation across the frozen Beaufort Sea using GPS guidance systems. Stuck said he was locked out of his car when he stopped to heed Nature's call, in -42C (-50F) temperatures. Luckily, his team-mate soon arrived and rescued the freezing Stuck.