BMW in Baltimore: Near Perfect Qualifying

Baltimore- For a brief moment, it was an all RLL BMW Z4 GTE front row as drivers Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand secured P1 and P2 on the starting grid with their Saturday qualifying times. The front row lockout came unraveled just a few hours after qualifying when the series scrutineers revealed Hand’s Z4GTE had violated a ride height regulation.

Auberlen sits pretty as he got the most out of his Michelin tires around the tricky street circuit, and will now start the race ahead of the Corvette C6 ZR1 piloted by Tommy Milner, who was moved up to P2 on the grid. A combination of good Michelin tire wear, and a rumored best in class downforce gives Auberlen the leg up on Miler on the way down to the busy turn 1

It’s the first pole position this season for Auberlen.

The RLL team has thrived this season at courses similar to Baltimore’s  with wins coming at the street course of Long Beach and the short track at Lime Rock Park.

A live stream of Saturday’s Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT will be available on watchespn.com at 3:30

P.M. ET

[Image Brett Blaske]