Quote from the press release:
BMW may have a point. They are not competitive in the straights with the M3 GT's reduced top speed. It almost seems that the M3's are being punished for winning the previous two seasons.
Jay O’Connell, Rahal Letterman Lanigan VP Technology. “We took some risk in qualifying with the No. 55 M3 GT. We were executing the strategy, but unfortunately we had to pit and get some more tires on the car. All four drivers did a good job today and did their best to make up for the pace. We are down by 4 to 6 kph on the straights due to regulations. The guys are just driving really hard on the corners to try and make up the pace, but it's definitely pushing the tires hard.”
Joey Hand, driver No. 56 M3 GT – “It was obvious that we didn't have the pace today. We did what we had to do to get as many points as possible, and on that front we executed really well. We are really, really not competitive on the straights. Everyone can pass us wherever they choose. We have to work so hard everywhere else and it’s too hard on the car. It will be tougher at the next tracks, but this team is, for sure, not giving up. We just need to continue to focus forward as Bobby would say and work on the next races.”
Dirk M ü ller, driver No. 56 M3 GT – “I think everyone has seen that we've had a tough weekend, but we never gave up. P4 was the maximum we could have achieved. It was a tough race. We played it lap by lap and in the end we were able to gain on second place in the championship because of tough luck for one of our competitors. Quite a few times today I was quicker than a car in the corners but on the straights, once I'm behind I get dirty air and can't drive behind them. If they are behind they can slipstream on the straights and get by.”
Bill Auberlen, driver No. 55 M3 GT – “We put our car up on the ragged edge to try and get the lap time back. These guys are so good at making the time, but you can't make everything live like that. Tire wise, brake wise, you name it, we got it on the ragged edge, and you can't make it to the end of races like that in one piece. They have to balance this thing up, from the series point of view, that would make life a little more even, and that's the way it should be.”
Jörg Müller, driver No. 55 M3 GT – “We had a very good qualifying and that was promising, but during the race we started to get into trouble. We tried to pit early to get out of the rhythm of the others. We got stuck coming out of the pits behind slower cars. I was stuck behind one car for 15 laps. Mosport is a narrow circuit so it is tough. You always lose your down force following someone into these fast corners so you can never really close in. It's nearly impossible to overtake and you can lose 20 to 30 seconds. The race was over for us at that point.
Race results:
Sunday
At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
Bowmanville, Ontario
1. (1) Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf, HPD ARX-03a Honda (1, P1), 117 laps.
2. (2) Chris Dyson and Guy Smith, Lola B12/60 Mazda (2, P1), 117.
3. (4) David Heinemeier Hansson and Martin Plowman, Morgan/Nissan (3, P2), 117.
4. (5) Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut, HPD ARX-03b Honda (4, P2), 117.
5. (3) Tony Burgess and Eric Lux, Lola B11/66 Mazda (5, P1), 115.
6. (9) Tomy Drissi and Bruno Junqueira, Oreca FLM09 (6, PC), 115.
7. (6) Jon Bennett and Colin Braun, Oreca FLM09 (7, PC), 114.
8. (8) Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel, Oreca FLM09 (8, PC), 113.
9. (10) Henri Richard and Duncan Ende, Oreca FLM09 (9, PC), 112.
10. (15) Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek, Ferrari F458 Italia (2, GT), 112.
11. (12) Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, Corvette C6-ZR1 (3, GT), 112.
12. (17) Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand, BMW E92 M3 (4, GT), 111.
13. (19) Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (5, GT), 111.
14. (18) Sascha Maassen and Bryce Miller, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (6, GT), 110.
15. (22) Seth Neiman and Andy Lally, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT), 110.
16. (14) Bill Auberlen and Jorg Muller, BMW E92 M3 (8, GT), 110.
17. (20) Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, Lotus Evora/Cosworth (9, GT), 110.
18. (21) Guy Cosmo and Ed Brown, Ferrari F458 Italia (10, GT), 109.
19. (24) Emilio Di Guida and Spencer Pumpelly, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1, GTC), 104.
20. (25) Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2, GTC), 104.
21. (26) Chris Cumming and Michael Valiante, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, GTC), 98.
22. (7) Kyle Marcelli and Matt Downs, Oreca FLM09 (4, PC), 97, accident.
23. (13) Tom Milner and Oliver Gavin, Corvette C6-ZR1 (11, GT), 91.
24. (11) Ken Dobson and Marino Franchitti, Oreca FLM09 (12, PC), 26, accident.
25. (23) Peter Lesaffre and Damien Faulkner, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (5, GTC), 23, accident.
26. (16) Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (1, GT), Excluded.
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