ALMS: Bad luck for BMW at Petit Le Mans
2 October 2000
Atlanta/Munich. The luck was not with BMW at the 2000 Petit Le Mans
race in Road Atlanta, Georgia (USA). On the 339th of 394 laps of the
1000-mile race, Jorg Muller (D) spun the BMW V12 LMR while running
second. His teammate JJ Lehto (FIN) took over and finished fifth in the
action-packed ninth round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).
Lehto/Muller started 4th in the art car designed by American artist Jenny
Holzer, who attended the first race for her work. The second BMW V12
LMR of American Bill Auberlen and Jean-Marc Gounon (F) qualified sixth
and retired on its 58th race lap. Auberlen had only driven 15 laps when
he escaped from a 360-degree reverse flip of the car with only a bruised
elbow.
The endurance race was won by Audi drivers Allan McNish, Rinaldo
Capello and Michele Alboreto ahead of their colleagues Frank Biela,
Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen. Therefore McNish has now taken
the lead of the drivers' championship from Jorg Muller.
BMW Motorsport Director Dr. Mario Theissen: "First of all, we are very
glad that Bill escaped his accident nearly unhurt. We checked all the
data immediately and compared it with the data of earlier laps and with
what our drivers reported. We made sure that the car developed enough
downforce even on that bump. It became clear that the incident could
happen only after a number of very unlucky factors contributed during
an overtaking manoeuvre directly on the top of a bump. An extreme
situation developed in which the airflow underneath the car was
suddenly disrupted. Regarding our second car, we really would have
liked to show Jenny Holzer a better finish, especially because the car
number 42 with the unique art car bodywork was very competitive
here."
BMW Motorsport Team Manager Charly Lamm: "No doubt, the most
important news of the day from our side is that Bill is all right. The car
looks impressively good. The team stripped it completely during the
race, and the monocoque seems to be intact, which underlines the high
safety standard of our prototype. What is positive, is that the 42 car was
sometimes able to keep the pace of the Audi. But, however, this place
seems to dislike us."
JJ Lehto, #42: "It was obviously not our day today. The race was flat out
right from the beginning. I found my stints really hard, afterwards I felt
every bone in my body. The set-up of the car was quite good here again
and we had a great fight with the Audi. I just wished we would have had
also the speed to beat them on the straights. I knew that Bill was okay
after his crash because he was waiting until I passed by and waved to
me."
Jörg Müller, #42: "We were pushing very, very hard today. I drove every
lap on the limit. On the 339th lap unfortunately I spun and hit the tyre
barrier with the rear. The wing was damaged and had to be changed.
The pit stop cost us three places."
Bill Auberlen, #43: "I was trying to pass a Lola for about ten laps and
was following him closely over the back straight bump and never had a
problem. But on this lap I got a very good drive out of the corner and
began to pass the Lola on the right side. The Lola was drafting the
Corvette and when he cut the Corvette, he made a sudden movement to
the right in order to pass it. At that moment he took all the downforce off
the front of my car. I had nowhere to go and I knew I was in trouble. I felt
terrible turbulence on my helmet that pulled my head forward and
actually sucked my visor open. Then the car began to take off. It was
fortunate that it landed on its wheels. The landing was not like Lufthansa
but it worked. I feel bad for the team because they had worked so hard
and the car was in really good shape for this endurance race and
Jean-Marc did an excellent first stint."
Jean-Marc Gounon, #43: "It is really a pity that this race ended so early
for us. We did intensive work during the test here and further improved
the car session by session. I'm glad Bill is okay."
Hans-J. Stuck also had bad luck in the BMW M3 of BMW Team PTG.
Together with his teammates Boris Said and Johannes van Overbeek,
he led the GT class for one hour. Later an oil line came loose and
wrapped around the drive shaft. The team quickly repaired the car, but
were forced to retire when another oil-line problem occurred.
Result after 9 hours 8 minutes and 40.619 seconds:
1.
Capello/McNish/Alboreto
Audi
394 laps
2.
Biela/Pirro/Kristensen
Audi
- 3
3.
Brabham/Magnussen
Panoz
- 3
4.
O'Connell/Katoh/Graf
Panoz
- 5
5.
Muller/Lehto
BMW
- 11