Bad Luck for BMW at Petit Le Mans
9th round American Le Mans Series, Road Atlanta, Georgia (USA)
Bad luck for BMW at Petit Le Mans
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,
Jörg Müller (D) spun the BMW V12 LMR while running second. His team mate JJ
Lehto (FIN) took over and finished 5th in the action packed ninth round of the
American Le Mans Series (ALMS).
Lehto/Müller 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 6th 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 Jörg Müller.
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 #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-Joachim Stuck also had bad luck in the BMW M3 of BMW Team PTG. Together
with his team mates 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. Müller/Lehto, BMW, - 11
6. Bernard/Collard, Cadillac, - 14