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Sears Point: BMW Team PTG race notes

BMW Team PTG made history again at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., when it became the first Speed GT team to sweep the first four positions in the SCCA Pro Racing Speed GT Championship. While today's 1-2-3-4 finish was a first in Speed GT, ...

Edited: Jul 28, 2003, 3:17 AM

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BMW Team PTG made history again at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., when it became the first Speed GT team to sweep the first four positions in the SCCA Pro Racing Speed GT Championship.

While today's 1-2-3-4 finish was a first in Speed GT, when BMW last raced at Infineon Raceway in July of 2001, BMW M3 GTRs swept the first four spots in the American Le Mans Series endurance race. BMW Team PTG also had its first podium sweep here in 1996.

Bill Auberlen, in the No. 7 BMW Team PTG M3, led every lap of the 25-lap, Round-6 contest from his third pole position of the year to win by 6.75 seconds over the No. 6 BMW Team PTG M3 of Boris Said. Auberlen also recorded the fastest lap of the race at 1:42.865.

In capturing his third win of the season Auberlen took the lead in the Driver's Championship and BMW extended its lead over Audi by 12 points in the Manufacturer's Championship.

Boris Said and Hans Stuck raced each other every lap, ultimately ending up in second and third, respectively, for Said's second and Stuck's third podium finish of the year. Justin Marks had his strongest performance of the season, racing hard from his seventh starting spot to finish fourth in his No. 80 BMW Team PTG M3.

With six of 10 races completed, BMW Team PTG drivers stand first (Auberlen), fourth (Stuck), fifth (Marks) and sixth (Said) in the Speed GT Driver's Championship.

Today's race is scheduled to be broadcast on Speed Channel on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 5 p.m. ET.

The Speed GT Championship moves east for Round 7 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. on Sunday, August 3.

BILL AUBERLEN, NO. 7 BMW TEAM PTG M3 (first):
"Remember that we kept saying that the hot weather was wrong for the set-up and we did not try to adapt the M3 for the heat of the last two days. We anticipated the cooler temperatures of this morning's race and the M3 was perfect. Team PTG has a great deal of experience at Infineon and we proved ourselves again today. We even held the lead on the start. I saw Randy (Pobst, Audi) coming hard and figured he would have to run me over to get by me. Today we were perfect."

BORIS SAID, NO. 6 BMW TEAM PTG M3 (second):
"It was a great race after we had some problems in qualifying. I had a great battle with Hans - it was a riot. This is a BMW track and the entire Team PTG did a fantastic job this weekend."

HANS STUCK, NO. 8 BMW TEAM PTG M3 (third):
"There are only a handful of guys that you can drive with like the race Boris and I had - inside, outside, side-by-side - without touching. I am happy that my 'brother' Boris finished second at his home track; he deserves it."

JUSTIN MARKS, NO. 80 BMW TEAM PTG M3 (fourth):
"I could not be more pleased. I have never been a part of an effort that dominated like Team PTG did today. I did get two top-fives at Lime Rock, but there was some attrition. Today I had to race for my fourth and it feels great."

TOM MILNER, OWNER BMW TEAM PTG:
"M3, M3, M3, M3. These are the finishes a team owner dreams about. Not only did we see another great finish for Team PTG and BMW, we saw a great race by Justin Marks. He did not have an easy time of it having to pass the Audis, Corvettes and Porsches, but drove a heads-up race to his best finish yet."

TOM SALKOWSKY, MOTORSPORTS MANAGER, BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC:
"An incredible day for BMW and Team PTG, repeating what we accomplished here in 2001 with the M3 GTRs. We have high expectations for our Motorsports program and today the entire Team PTG and the four drivers exceeded them all. I could not be prouder of their collective efforts. Next weekend's race at Road America will be a challenging one for us, but we could not carry better momentum with the lead in both the Manufacturer's and Driver's Championships."

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