BMW Rahal/Letterman Racing Gears up for August

Official Release: The month of August is the most taxing on teams competing in the American Le Mans Series. For new teams like the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, the rush of events at Mid-Ohio, Road America and Mosport in a span of four weeks will provide plentiful opportunity to do what they do best – race.

“In August our focus is racing,” stated Martin Birkmann, BMW of North America Motorsport Manager. “We reached the podium three times in the first five races of the year, but the first half of the season has predominately been about development of our new M3s. The race at Lime Rock showed a new competitiveness that we hope to continue to exploit beginning at Mid-Ohio. Our Lime Rock podium was not the result of one thing, but of everything we have been working on.”

The team tested for two days in July at the 2.4-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which Rahal Letterman Racing calls home. After this weekend’s Mid Ohio race, the team will see Road America’s winding 4.048-miles for the first time the following weekend, and is excited by that challenge as well.

“We have been looking forward to this stretch of the season since the year began with our home track of Mid-Ohio being followed the very next week by a visit to one of our country’s great road courses at Elkhart Lake,” Bobby Rahal said. “We continue to show improvement with the M3s, we have become a consistent podium threat over the first half of the season, and are looking forward to putting forth a strong effort for our fans in the Buckeye State this weekend at Mid-Ohio.”

Driver Bill Auberlen added, “This team has been in a constant-development mode. Going forward we are in racing mode! We were the most competitive at Lime Rock and we will carry that forward into Mid Ohio. Our crew is our secret weapon; no one is sharper during pit stops.”

The Mid-Ohio race is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 8 and will be broadcast on NBC television at 2:30 p.m. ET the following day. The Road America contest is scheduled to start at 2:05 p.m. CT, Sunday, Aug. 16 and will be broadcast live on SPEED television beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.