ALMS: BMW Team PTG leader at Silverstone
14 May 2000
BMW Team PTG notes: final qualifying and race, May 13 Silverstone 500 USA Challenge, Silverstone Circuit race three of 12, American Le Mans Series BMW Team PTG started seventh and 10th on the GT grid for Saturday's race. Boris Said qualified the #6 BMW M3 seventh in one minute, 55.151 seconds (99.85 mph). Nic Jonsson was ninth in the new #10 M3 (1:55.822, 99.27 mph). Boris Said started the #6 car and raced as high as second before handing off to Johannes van Overbeek after 70 minutes. Van Overbeek drove for 70 minutes, holding eighth place. Hans Stuck took the final 40-minute stint. He moved up to finish sixth. Peter Cunningham started the #10 car and moved up to third before handing the car to Brian Cunningham after one hour, 45 minutes. Brian moved into the lead an hour later and held the lead until he pitted after two hours, 10 minutes. Nic Jonsson took the wheel in seventh place and moved up to fifth before retiring from the race with about 10 minutes to go, when a tire went down. Richard Brekus, manager, motorsports, BMW of North America, Inc. "It was a great race for BMW because the 42 car won with Jorg Muller and JJ Lehto. It was reliability and consistency that allowed the car to last through the end and win by quite a good margin, while everyone else had problems. On the M3 side, we led for the middle part of the race, and that was fantastic. We're definitely suffering a power disadvantage to the Porsche right now, which we're working on. But the number 10 car was brand-new for this race -- had never turned a wheel before it showed up here -- and ran flawlessly through the entire race until a tire went down. It really was a fantastic tribute to the PTG team as to how consistent they could make the car run. Pitstops were flawless and the pit strategy allowed us to get up in front of much faster cars and run in the lead for quite awhile, so there's a lot of good hope for the future." Boris Said, driver, #6 BMW M3 "We actually had a really good race. We're not going to beat the Porsches in straight-line speed and this was a really fast track. But handling-wise, it's a new car and we've made a lot of progress. We had one little mistake, not pitting under the yellow, so we had to pit under green. But we learned a lot about the car this weekend, and I think it will be ready to win by Sears Point. The car ran good, we had good pitstops and I had a good time!" Brian Cunningham, driver, #10 BMW M3 "I had no communications with the pits, so it made it really difficult to know where I was, how fast to run and how to pace myself. That was the most difficult thing about the whole run. I just tried to catch what was ahead of me or try to hang on to it and run consistent lap times ... We're down a little bit on power, but the car's build quality is fantastic, the car handles great and every race we're making it faster. The new wheels, new engine, new chassis, everything's making it faster."