Petit Le Mans Qualifying Report - BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team

Woodcliff Lake , N.J. – Oct. 1, 2010… In this afternoon’s qualifying session for the 13th annual Petit Le Mans, Dirk Müller and Bill Auberlen qualified the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3 GTs fifth and 10th in the GT class.

Müller drove the No. 90 M3 GT to the fifth fastest time with a 1:20.322 minute lap of the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta circuit, a pace 0.433 seconds from the class polesitter. Müller will co-drive with Joey Hand and Andy Priaulx in tomorrow’s race. Auberlen experienced fuel pick up problems with the No. 92 M3 GT and settled for a 1:20.812 minute lap, 0.923 seconds from the pole. He will co-drive with Tommy Milner and Dirk Werner.

YouTube: Dirk Müller, Driver, No. 90 M3 GT.

YouTube: Jay O’Connell, Technical Director, Rahal Letterman Racing.

After one win (Road America) and scoring at least one podium in every race thus far, the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3 GT has taken BMW (with 138 points) to within one point of Porsche (139 points) and nine in front of Ferrari (129 points) in the GT Manufacturer’s Championship battle. For these three teams, the 13th annual Petit Le Mans will be a 10-hour, winner-take-all showdown.

The race will be televised live on SPEED beginning at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2.

About BMW Rahal Letterman Racing:

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 336 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 143 BMW motorcycle retailers, 100 MINI passenger car dealers, and 31 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

BMW’s partner, Rahal Letterman Racing, based in Hilliard, Ohio and co-owned by three-time IndyCar Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and CBS LATE SHOW host David Letterman, has been competing for more than a decade compiling 20 victories, 30 poles and one series championship (Bobby Rahal in 1992 in CART) and an Indianapolis 500 championship (Buddy Rice in 2004).  In 2008 Rahal Letterman Racing again won Rookie-of-the-Year honors at the Indianapolis 500 and partnered with Andersen Racing to run two entries in the Indy Pro Series. In 2009 the team joined BMW of North America to campaign the BMW M3 as BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team in the American Le Mans