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During the fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca, BMW M Team RLL missed out on their third consecutive podium finish. Augusto Farfus and Philipp Eng secured fifth place in the GTP class in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, while Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly slipped to eighth. Meanwhile, Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull took second in the GTD category, racing the Turner Motorsport #97 BMW M4 GT3.
Starting from the seventh and ninth, both BMW M Hybrid V8s showcased remarkable progress. They fiercely competed in the competitive GTP field, with car #25 showing promise for a third-place finish. During the final pit stop, the team changed all four tires on the #24 vehicle while only replacing two on the #25 car. This strategic move proved pivotal in the latter part of the race. Consequently, Farfus and Eng retained their fifth-place position, while Yelloly and De Phillippi dropped to eighth.
Turner Motorsport achieved success in the GTD class with their BMW M4 GT3s. Auberlen and Hull secured second place, while Foley and Gallagher claimed eighth. However, Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers from the Paul Miller Racing team, who triumphed at Sebring and Long Beach, faced challenges due to tire degradation, resulting in an eleventh-place finish.
Andreas Roos, the head of BMW M Motorsport, expressed disappointment with the outcome, stating, “This is not the result we had anticipated.” Despite improvements to the cars following a challenging qualifying session, their performance in the race was commendable. Still, they fell short of contending for the top position at the race’s end. Roos thanked the drivers, BMW M Team RLL and BMW M Motorsport, for their collective efforts. He also congratulated Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull from Turner Motorsport for their second-place finish in the GTD class.
