BMW Team RLL returns to Florida with a lot of momentum following a strong showing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Heading into the second round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the Twelve Hours of Sebring, the team will be hoping to continue their Daytona form that saw them become the only team to have two cars in the GTLM top five.
As a result of the strong Sebring result, the team leave Daytona in second place in the Manufacturer, Team and Drivers points tables. They can also take confidence going into the once-round-the-clock race from a successful test session between the Rolex 24 and the Twelve Hours.
“Last year, even though we didn’t finish well we were relatively competitive,” said team principle, Bobby Rahal. “Obviously we know a lot more about the BMW Z4 one year later, so my hope is that we will be back on the podium. We have great drivers and, as was seen last year, we were right there from the start, but it’s always a tough race. From a reliability stand point, we learned some things at Daytona that will help us at Sebring. Sebring is all about reliability.”
Driving duties in the #55 car, which took second in Daytona, will be shared between Andy Priaulx, Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, while the #56 will see Dirk Werner, Dirk Muller and John Edwards share a cockpit.
“Sebring will be a different challenge for us compared to Daytona,” offered Priaulx. “I imagine the race to be more intense, with at least 60 cars on track. I am very happy with our testing preparations and the car set-up is in the ball park. We just need to see how competitive we are compared to the others. I hope we can have a faultless race and be in with a chance.”
