Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – June 24, 2023 . . . Today’s GTP class qualifying session for tomorrow’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen was abandoned by IMSA officials because of rain so the starting positions will be determined by team points standings. The No. 25 BMW M Team RLL, of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly, will start fifth and the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL, of Philipp Eng and Augusto Farfus, will start seventh in the nine-car GTP class. Brandon Fry, RLL VP of IMSA Operations and Technical Director said, “Qualifying today was abandoned because of rain, but we are looking good for tomorrow’s race. We had a good Free Practice 2 earlier today. The cars were quick and showed good pace for the entire 90-minute session. We learned quite a bit and finished the session P2 and P3.” The GT Daytona and GT Daytona Pro classes qualified before the rain became an issue. Madison Snow was the quickest of the three BMW M4 GT3 cars entered. Snow set the fourth fastest GTD time (1:45.434 minutes) in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing. Snow will co-drive with Corey Lewis and Bryan Sellers. The Paul Miller Racing team leads the GTD championship, with two victories this season (Sebring, Long Beach). The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW was qualified ninth in the GTD class by Patrick Gallagher (1:47.168 minutes). He will co-drive with Michael Dinan and Robby Foley. Sandwiched in between the two GTD class cars is the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW. Bill Auberlen qualified the car seventh in the GTD PRO class with a 1:46.450-minute lap. Auberlen, the driver with the most IMSA wins in history, will co-drive with John Edwards and Chandler Hull. The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen gets started at 10:40 a.m. tomorrow morning. The race will be streamed live on Peacock Premium with the final three hours broadcast live on USA Network. Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingBMW’s partner, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, based in Zionsville, Indiana and co-owned by three-time INDYCAR Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former CBS Late Show host David Letterman and Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan, has been competing for over three decades. Prior to the start of their 32nd season of competition in 2023 and their 15th with BMW, the team had compiled 54 victories, 67 poles, 225 podium finishes, three series championships (1992, 2010, 2011), claimed two Indianapolis 500 victories (Buddy Rice in 2004, Takuma Sato in 2020) and two Rolex 24 at Daytona victories. In 2009 the team joined BMW of North America to campaign the new BMW M3 in the American Le Mans Series. The following year the team won both the Manufacturer and Team Championships in the GT category and swept all three GT titles – Manufacturer, Team, and Driver – in 2011. In 2012, the team finished second in the Team Championship and third in the Manufacturer Championship and in 2013, the team finished second in the Driver, Team, and Manufacturer Championship. From 2014 to 2021, BMW Team RLL competed in the GTLM class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a two-car program. In 2022, BMW M Team RLL competed in the GTD PRO class in IMSA while simultaneously ramping up for a two-car program in the much-anticipated GTP class in IMSA for 2023. In total, the team has earned 22 wins – including the 2019 and 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance races, 30 poles and 96 podium finishes prior to the start of the 2023 season. BMW M Team RLL highlights also include second-place finishes in the Manufacturer, Team, and Driver championships in 2015 and 2017 and being named the 2020 Michelin North American Endurance Champions. BMW Group In AmericaBMW 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 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley, and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and manufactures the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles as well as the BMW XM. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 350 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 146 BMW motorcycle retailers, 104 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 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.www.bmwgroup.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroupTwitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroupYouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupviewGoogle+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.comJournalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwusanews.com, www.miniusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.
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