BMW started the IMSA SportsCar Championship season on the back foot with the least-developed car against rivals Acura, Cadillac and Porsche. Its reality check came when it finished 15 laps behind the winner in the Daytona 24 Hours, leading to the Rahal Letterman Lanigan-run team working tirelessly at Zionsville, Indiana in tandem with BMW’s headquarters in Munich to catch up.
An inherited runner-up finish in the Sebring 12 Hours has now been followed by another second position for Nick Yelloly and Conor De Phillippi at Long Beach, where the car set the fastest lap in its pursuit of the leaders.
“The fastest race lap showed the great effort by the entire team over the last few weeks and the progress that has been made,” said Roos. “After our first podium at Sebring, here we are again on the podium.
“At Long Beach, we were able to fight for the win. That shows how good our cars are.”
De Phillippi and Yelloly now sit fourth in points, behind the leading Porsche of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet – who won at Long Beach – and the Action Express Cadillac and Wayne Taylor Racing Acura.
Team boss Bobby Rahal added: “To be honest we really did not know what to expect from the first sprint race for the GTP cars. Right from the start of the weekend, the BMW M Hybrid V8s looked good. We gave a good run for the win, but we can be very proud of our effort.”
BMW’s best chance for victory in Saturday’s race was spoiled when De Phillippi overshot Turn 5 while trying to pass the Porsche of Matt Campbell for second place with half an hour remaining.
“I put myself in a less than ideal situation when I ran long trying to pass the Porsche,” he admitted. “It was clear that we had the pace, and we went longer than everyone else to give ourselves time to see what they were doing with tires.
“It was quite a calm race until then, so we opted to go with four [new] tires, so we knew the Porsches would cycle ahead of us but we’d expect to be in better shape at the end, which we were. We had the pace, but Matt and Mathieu drove brilliantly, and the Acura was really fast, and the mistake was on me.
“When you got close, you just had to make a move because you could lose so much in traffic. Luckily, I found the TC-off button and spun the car around. I apologised to the guys right away and did promised to do my best to get back, and when I saw them battling I was able to get there.
“I just drove it as fast as I could, and I almost got past the #10 [WTR Acura] and he mustered me a little bit. That was the chance I could have had to go for the win, but I’m still proud to finish in a podium position.
“The car was fantastic at the end and to see how competitive we were was great.”
