Photo: BMW
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of BMW’s motorsport endeavor on US soil, this weekend Team RLL will be racing in the 53rd 24-hour endurance race held at Daytona. In the qualifying rounds, the team managed to grab positions four and seven, showing great prospects for the race.
John Edwards, behind the wheel of the No. 24 BMW Z4 GTLM managed to finish the qualifying run fourth with a lap timed in at 1:43.966 around the 3.56-mile, 12-turn circuit. He was just 0.478 slower than the pole winner showing us just how tense the racing was.
At the same time, all top six qualifiers were separated by 0.498 seconds while the entire 12-car class was divided in starting positions by a difference of just 1.271 seconds.
The other Z4 GTLM car, driven by Bill Auberlen, managed to do a 1:44.024 lap, coming in seventh. While Edwards will be part of a team that includes Lucas Luhr, Jens Klingmann and Graham Rahal, Auberlen will team up with Augusto Farfus, Bruno Spengler and Dirk Werner for the main event.
"John did a great job, being P4, and it is so close," said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. "Bill’s car was literally five one-hundredths of a second away from P4 or P3. It is typical of any other year – very, very tight. Where you qualify has no bearing on where you finish, so I am not too worried about that. I know we have a great driver line-up and it gives me a lot of confidence."
The 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona takes the green flag at 2:10 p.m. Saturday, January 24, with the first two hours of coverage on FOX beginning at 2 p.m. ET. Altogether, 15.5 hours will be broadcast on FOX Sports platforms. The hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be streamed live on IMSA.com.
At the same time, all top six qualifiers were separated by 0.498 seconds while the entire 12-car class was divided in starting positions by a difference of just 1.271 seconds.
The other Z4 GTLM car, driven by Bill Auberlen, managed to do a 1:44.024 lap, coming in seventh. While Edwards will be part of a team that includes Lucas Luhr, Jens Klingmann and Graham Rahal, Auberlen will team up with Augusto Farfus, Bruno Spengler and Dirk Werner for the main event.
"John did a great job, being P4, and it is so close," said Bobby Rahal, Team Principal. "Bill’s car was literally five one-hundredths of a second away from P4 or P3. It is typical of any other year – very, very tight. Where you qualify has no bearing on where you finish, so I am not too worried about that. I know we have a great driver line-up and it gives me a lot of confidence."
The 53rd Rolex 24 at Daytona takes the green flag at 2:10 p.m. Saturday, January 24, with the first two hours of coverage on FOX beginning at 2 p.m. ET. Altogether, 15.5 hours will be broadcast on FOX Sports platforms. The hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be streamed live on IMSA.com.
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