BMW Team PTG has Score to Settle at Mosport
27 July 2000
BOWMANVILLE, Ont. (July 26, 2000) -- BMW Team PTG
has a score to settle when it returns to Mosport International
Raceway for the American Le Mans Series globemegawheels.com
Grand Prix at Mosport on Aug. 6. Last year, Hans Stuck of Austria
set a GT class record on the 2.459-mile track and finished second
in class with his co-driver Christian Menzel of Germany. The pair
was closing on the team's fifth Mosport win, but lost a lap
because of their track position relative to the pace car during a
late-race caution period.
BMW Team PTG is also looking to vindicate the results of
last week's ALMS race at Sears Point. Hans Stuck of Austria and
Boris Said of Carlsbad, Calif., won by a 20-second margin, but
later were excluded from the race due to problems with the No. 7
BMW M3's fuel cell.
"Now that we know we can win, hopefully we can do it
again," said team owner Tom Milner. "Mosport is not as good a
track for our cars as Sears Point was, but we have won there
before, in 1996, 1997 and two classes in 1998."
BMW Team PTG will field three M3s at Mosport, with Said;
Stuck; Brian Cunningham of Danville, Ky.; Peter Cunningham of
West Bend, Wis.; Johannes van Overbeek of Danville, Calif., and
one other driver. Nic Jonsson of Aliso Viejo, Calif., who usually
drives for the team, will be married in Sweden on Aug. 5.
Stuck has raced and won at Mosport since the late 1970s.
"For me, Mosport is a great track, " he said. "I've heard they have
made some adjustments in terms of safety, so for us it can only be
better. We're going back for the win we deserved last year, when
we did not win because we were in the wrong spot for the pace
car. First we're going to prove we can win what we tried last year,
and second, we're going to repeat our win from Sears Point."
Peter Cunningham, who competed at Mosport in the
Speedvision World Challenge GT race in May, says changes to
the track present a new challenge.
"Mosport has always been one of my favorite tracks," he
said. "I just ran there on Victoria Day weekend in my RealTime
Racing M3; we were on the pole and had the fastest race lap. The
new changes to the track make the facility nicer and safer but at
the same time different, in particular turn four, which has a
completely different flavor and takes some getting used to. It's
definitely a horsepower-dependent track, but it also has a good bit
of twists and turns that will be the BMW's advantage."
Tom Salkowsky, motorsport manager for BMW of North
America, Inc., noted, " It is very unfortunate that we experienced a
problem with our fuel cell on our newest No. 7 M3, but on
occasion issues like this arise when you build brand-new race
cars. However, I haven't lost sight of how hard the PTG team
worked to prepare all the cars after the Nuerburgring race for
Sears Point, so I give them all a lot of credit for their efforts and
dedication. We are now focused on Mosport and looking forward
to being competitive and continuing with this momentum."
The two-hour 45-minute globemegawheels.com Grand Prix
of Mosport is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 6. It will
be televised live on NBC Sports from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The
American Le Mans Series Radio Web will broadcast live Aug. 4
from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Aug. 5 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Aug. 6
from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (all EDT) The broadcasts, timing
and scoring, on-demand interviews, photos, news and updates
will be available on the American Le Mans Series website
(www.americanlemans.com