Grid positions seven and eleven for BMW in Le Mans

The second and third qualifying sessions for the Le Mans 24 Hours saw the Team BMW Motorsport drivers improve on their times set on Wednesday: Twenty minutes before the end of the second qualifying, Augusto Farfus (BR) in the no. 78 BMW M3 GT2 recorded a personal best time of 4:01.893 minutes. This put the car in seventh in the LM GT2 class. Farfus will alternate behind the wheel with Jörg Müller (DE) and Uwe Alzen (DE) during the race.

The BMW M3 GT2 Art Car with the car number 79 will start the endurance classic on the “Circuit de la Sarthe” from 11th on Saturday. Dirk Werner’s (DE) fastest lap, which was clocked at 4:03.215 minutes, also came in the closing stages of the second session. Werner teams up with Dirk Müller (DE) and Andy Priaulx (GB) on Saturday. Pierre Kaffer (DE), Jaime Melo (BR) and Gianmaria Bruni (IT) have claimed the LM GT2 pole position in their Ferrari F430 GT after setting the fastest time of 3:59.233 minutes.

The track was still wet for the early stages of the second qualifying session following heavy rainfall during the afternoon, but dried out over the course of the session. This allowed Team BMW Motorsport to switch to dry tyres at the end of qualifying. More showers in session three created difficult driving conditions. The engines will be given a rest on Friday in Le Mans. The highlight of the day is the traditional driver parade in the town centre, which begins at 18:00hrs.

Charly Lamm (Team Manager): “Yesterday we had quite a big gap to the front-runners. Thanks to intense set-up work we were able to reduce it today. In addition, the drivers found their rhythm more and more at this track. This is crucial here in Le Mans, and that’s why we are happy with the day. We are gaining more experience with every lap, and getting closer to our competitors. I hope we can continue this upward trend during the race.”

Augusto Farfus (Car Number 78): “The progress we have made is encouraging. We simply need a bit of time here to move forward step by step. That applies to both the car and us drivers. I found a good rhythm at the end of the second session, and was able to put in some good laps. We are definitely moving in the right direction.”

Dirk Werner (Car Number 79): “Compared to yesterday, we have improved our car considerably. The conditions were still difficult at the start of second qualifying. By the time I got into the car, however, the track was in a good state and I was able to improve our time. Above all, it was important to continue our race preparations as planned. The grid position is not crucial at endurance races.”