ALMS 2012 - BMW finishes 3rd and 4th at Laguna Seca in a tight GT class battle - Full results

Another podium finish for BMW this season and a solid result although it is not a win. The win went to Corvette Racing who simply ran a spectacular race. In the closing hour, seven cars were within two seconds of each other in the GT class. Bill Auberlin in the number 55 M3 seemed set to challenge the lead Corvette for the win only for Jan Magnusson in the Corvette sister car to make a spectacular pass with 15 minutes remaining. Auberlin would finish 3rd and the sister M3 would finish 4th. A hard fought race and congratulations to the Corvette team.

Oliver Gavin - Corvette Racing:

"“It was so tight in our class. You could never let off and think 'I'm alright now.' I had a few close calls in the pitlane, and then Wolf passed me for the lead. He was hard but fair, and he gave me just enough room to get by at the last turn. I managed to sneak by a lot of people today, and we managed to catch all the breaks. It was a great race for me today.”


American Le Mans Monterey presented by Patrón
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif.
Saturday’s results
1. (1) Klaus Graf, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; HPD ARX-03a Honda (1, P1), 242.
2. (4) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Scott Tucker; Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; HPD ARX-03b Honda (2, P2), 239.
3. (10) Colin Braun, Ovalo, TX; Jon Bennett; Oreca FLM09 (3, PC), 236.
4. (6) Roberto Gonzalez; Tomy Drissi, Hollywood, CA; Bruno Junqueira; Oreca FLM09 (4, PC), 236.
5. (7) Tom Kimber-Smith, England; Alex Papow; Oreca FLM09 (5, PC), 236.
6. (8) Michael Guasch, Palo Alto, CA; Memo Gidley, San Rafael, CA; Archie Hamilton, Hampshire, UK; Oreca FLM09 (6, PC), 236.
7. (12) Lucas Downs, North Mankoto, MN; Kyle Marcelli; Dean Stirling, England; Oreca FLM09 (7, PC), 234.
8. (9) Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Ken Dobson, Carmel Valley, CA; Oreca FLM09 (8, PC), 232.
9. (17) Oliver Gavin; Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Corvette C6-ZR1 (1, GT), 232.
10. (20) Jan Magnussen; Antonio Garcia; Corvette C6-ZR1 (2, GT), 232.
11. (18) Jorg Muller, Germany; Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; BMW E92 M3 (3, GT), 232.
12. (22) Dirk Mueller; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; BMW E92 M3 (4, GT), 232.
13. (21) Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Ferrari F458 Italia (5, GT), 232.
14. (19) Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Jorg Bergmeister; Richard Lietz, Ybbsitz; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (6, GT), 232.
15. (24) Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Wolf Henzler; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT), 232.
16. (11) Ryan Lewis, UK; Duncan Ende, Los Angeles; Henri Richard; Oreca FLM09 (8, PC), 231.
17. (16) Stefan Mucke, Germany; Darren Turner; Adrian Fernandez; Aston Martin Vantage (9, GT), 230.
18. (27) Marco Holzer; Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (10, GT), 230.
19. (25) Sascha Maassen; Bryce Miller, Hoboken, NJ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (11, GT), 229.
20. (35) David Heinemeier Hansson; Martin Plowman, Indianapolis, IN; Antonio Pizzonia, Manaus BR; Morgan/Nissan (12, P2), 227.
21. (13) Anthony Nicolosi, Brooklyn, NY; Ricardo Vera; Oreca FLM09 (13, PC), 225.
22. (23) Guy Cosmo, Long Island, NY; Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Ferrari F458 Italia (14, GT), 224.
23. (2) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Johnny Mowlem, England; Guy Smith, Beverley, UK; Lola B12/60 Mazda (15, P1), 222.
24. (30) Emilio Di Guida; Joeren Bleekemolen, Netherlands; Brett Curtis, Valencia, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1, GTC), 219.
25. (34) James Sofronas, Newport Beach, CA; Rene Villeneuve, Woodland Hills, CA; Alex Welch; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2, GTC), 219.
26. (32) Michael Aventatti; Bob Faieta, Tujunga, CA; Cort Wagner, Pacific Palisades, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, GTC), 219.
27. (33) Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, GA; Cooper MacNeil; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (4, GTC), 216.
28. (28) Damien Faulkner; Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, Haarlem, NL; Peter Lesaffre, Rye, NH; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (5, GTC), 211.
29. (3) Scott Tucker; Christophe Bouchut, France; Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; HPD ARX-03b Honda (6, P2), 207.
30. (5) Joe Foster, Lawrenceville, GA; Jonny Cocker, UK; Patrick Dempsey; Lola B12/87-Judd BMW V8 (7, P2), 202.
31. (14) Andrew Prendeville, Chatham, NJ; Rusty Mitchell, Midland, TX; Duarte Felix de Costa, Cascias PT; Radical SR10/Rousch Yates (8, P2), 185.
32. (29) Nick Tandy; Mike Hedlund, Woodside, CA; Tracy Krohn, Houston, TX; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (9, GTC), 178.
33. (31) Martin Ragginger, Austria; Chris Cumming, Vancouver, BC; Matthew Marsh, Welwyn, UK; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (10, GTC), 119.
34. (15) Tony Burgess, Canada; Antonio Downs, Minneapolis, MN; Chapman Ducote, Miami, FL; Oreca FLM09 (11, PC), 100.
35. (26) Townsend Bell, Santa Monica, CA; Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Lotus Evora/Cosworth (16, GT), 67.

Now ALMS is off until July, while everyone besides BMW prepares for and runs the 24hr of Le Mans.

I wonder if Rahal has a commitment from BMW for next season of ALMS? Could this be the last season for the E92, without any notice? They didn't let anyone know they are not showing up to Le Mans this year, didn't even give a reason why.

Originally Posted by M3_WC

Now ALMS is off until July, while everyone besides BMW prepares for and runs the 24hr of Le Mans.

I wonder if Rahal has a commitment from BMW for next season of ALMS? Could this be the last season for the E92, without any notice? They didn't let anyone know they are not showing up to Le Mans this year, didn't even give a reason why.

I can't wrap my head around the Le Mans absence but I think you may be on to something.

Originally Posted by Sticky

I can't wrap my head around the Le Mans absence but I think you may be on to something.

Theoretically they could go another season. But it seems like signs are pointing to maybe this is it. Added to the Le Mans no show. They moved two of their best ALMS drivers to DTM. While Joey is still driving in ALMS, later in the year the DTM schedule conflicts with 3 ALMS races. So Joey will not be able to collect driver championship points. Then their is Rahal, who seems all of a sudden to be ramping back up his Indycar team that was put on hold last few years. Could he be preparing for a departure from ALMS and back full force in Indycar?

Originally Posted by M3_WC

Theoretically they could go another season. But it seems like signs are pointing to maybe this is it. Added to the Le Mans no show. They moved two of their best ALMS drivers to DTM. While Joey is still driving in ALMS, later in the year the DTM schedule conflicts with 3 ALMS races. So Joey will not be able to collect driver championship points. Then their is Rahal, who seems all of a sudden to be ramping back up his Indycar team that was put on hold last few years. Could he be preparing for a departure from ALMS and back full force in Indycar?

You raise some really good points.

I hope not, I enjoy watching the alms races.....when they are actually on tv.

It's more or less official that BMW will retire from ALMS at the end of this season. The E92 will go out of production and a new M3 is not yet avaiable. So a race series using the old car as a model is not very attractive. They will focus on the DTM series which gets a lot of media attention in Germany. Talks are that BMW will however join another series to get international coverage.

Originally Posted by Autobahn335i

It's more or less official that BMW will retire from ALMS at the end of this season. The E92 will go out of production and a new M3 is not yet avaiable. So a race series using the old car as a model is not very attractive. They will focus on the DTM series which gets a lot of media attention in Germany. Talks are that BMW will however join another series to get international coverage.

BMW is not going to race the new M3 in ALMS anyway and it seems they will just swap straight from ALMS from DTM. It is looking more and more like that is going to happen.