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BMW Motorsport driver Bill Auberlen okay

1 October 2000

Round 9, American Le Mans Series
30 September 2000, Braselton, Ga.

Bill Auberlen of Redondo Beach, Calif., suffered only a bruised
elbow after his No. 43 BMW V12 LMR flipped after 90 minutes
of the 1000-mile / 10-hour Petit Le Mans race.

Bill Auberlen, No. 43:  "I was coming up over the rise with the
Olive Garden car, which we'd done for many laps and I always
put my nose in.  But this time I think there was a third car, and
as I got to the bump, I could feel the air was different.  When I
got to the right, all of a sudden, my visor opened up and I knew
this was going to be a different deal.  The car took off and I
thought, 'Oh, no, I'm going to make the Great Crashes [video]'. 
It's really sad because the team worked so hard and Jean-Marc
did a great job the first stint."

BMW Motorsport Director Dr. Mario Theissen: "First of all, we
are very glad that Bill escaped this accident nearly unhurt.  It
was a combination of factors:  Bill was chasing the Lola for
several laps when the car suddenly crossed the line right in front
of him on top of a bump.  That took the air off the front nose of
his car, which caused the car to flip.  Usually, our cars are not
that aerodynamically sensitive, so it was obviously a number of
things that contributed.  Because we don't believe this was a
fault with the car, we decided to continue the race with the No.
42 BMW V12 LMR.  But we've asked our drivers to pay extra
attention and not follow other cars too closely on the rise."