Prior to this afternoon’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, BMW Team RLL drivers Nick Yelloly and Augusto Farfus had perhaps only one hour’s practice time on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in preparation for their first Long Beach start. At the end of the 20-minute session, the timing charts showed the BMW drivers posting the season’s-best qualifying result with fourth and fifth place in the GTP class and overall starting positions for the 100-minute race. Yelloly posted the fourth fastest time (1:11.002 minutes) in the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 he will share with Connor De Phillippi. Along with Sheldon van der Linde, the trio finished second at the recent 12 Hours of Sebring. Augusto Farfus qualified the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 fifth (1:11.368 minutes). He will co-drive with Philipp Eng.
Nick Yelloly, driver No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (P4): “Today’s qualifying effort was the team’s best of the year so far. We are making our way closer to the front of the field and today validates all the work put in by everyone.”
Augusto Farfus, driver No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 (P5): “I think the positive we can take from today is that we are really understanding this M Hybrid V8. We are closer – not to everyone – but we are definitely closing the gap to the front of the GTP field.”
This year’s Sebring 12 Hour and last season’s Long Beach winner, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, of Madison Snow, was the top BMW GTD qualifier, posting the third-best time (1:18.383 minutes) of the 15-car class. Snow will co-drive with Bryan Sellers. Chandler Hull (co-driver Bill Auberlen) qualified the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 seventh (1:19.159). Patrick Gallagher (co-driver Robby Foley) posted the eighth quickest time in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (1:19.171).
The Acura Long Beach Grand Prix is scheduled to take the green flag at 2:05 p.m. local time.
Source. BMW
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