Utah: BMW Team PTG qualifying report

BMW Team PTG M3s Qualify 8th and 9th for Utah Grand Prix

Tooele, Utah. - July 15, 2006-- The new Miller Motorsports Park circuit just outside Salt Lake City, Utah proved a challenge for BMW Team PTG as they qualified their two BMW M3s eighth and ninth in the GT2 field for today's inaugural American Le Mans Series Utah Grand Prix.

Joey Hand, who will co-drive the No. 21 BMW Team PTG M3 with Bill Auberlen, qualified eighth with a time of 2:48.759 minutes around the 4.5-mile, 24-turn track. Justin Marks qualified the No. 22 BMW Team PTG M3 ninth with a time of 2:50.414 minutes. He will share the car with Bryan Sellers in the race.

BMW Team PTG recently delivered their best finish of the season, a third and fourth, at the New England Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on July 1.

The two-hour-and-forty-five-minute Utah Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. local time today. The race will be broadcast on CBS television at 2 p.m. ET tomorrow.

Background: 2006 marks the 11th season of competition for the BMW Team PTG M3s and the first full season of ALMS competition since 2001. In 10 years, BMW Team PTG has won a total of 53 races in both sprint and endurance racing series and 14 sports car racing championships. In 2005, BMW Team PTG won 7 of 13 Rolex Sports Car Series races entered.

-bmwteamptg