BMW does the double! V12 LMR and M3 victorious in Sears Point

Two wins for BMW in the US: in the fourth race of this year’s American Le Mans Series (ALMS) at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California, BMWs dominated both the LMP and GT fields. Finland’s JJ Lehto and Britain’s Steve Soper took the honours in the LMP class with their BMW V12 LMR, while the BMW M3 of Joachim Stuck and Boris Said secured victory in the GT category.

The BMW V12 LMR of Lehto and Soper was the first to take the chequered flag after 97 laps of the 4.055-kilometre Sears Point Raceway. Having started from pole, they finished the two-and-three-quarter-hour race 2.324 seconds ahead of the Panoz of Brabham and Bernard.

JJ Lehto and Bill Auberlen drove the first leg in the two open-top BMW sports cars, handing over to Soper and Winkelhock after 40 and 39 laps respectively. They then swapped again after 76 and 73 laps respectively. The second BMW V12 LMR was unlucky not to make it onto the podium, a 20-second stop-and-go penalty pushing it back to fifth place.

Team Manager Charly Lamm was delighted: ”Achieving a second victory in the ALMS with our BMW V12 LMR has required impressive all-round talent. The BMW engineers have developed a car which is able to be the best in Le Mans as well as at the Sears Point circuit with all its tight corners. The technical preparation by the team and an outstanding performance by the drivers was our recipe of success.”

Meanwhile the BMW M3 of Germany’s Hans-Joachim Stuck and America’s Boris Said gave the BMW Team PTG the narrowest of victories in the GT class: ”The battle was decided in the very last lap” explained Stuck. ”It was a real achievement from the team.”