Between the final two races of his DTM season, BMW works driver Augusto Farfus is sandwiching a trip to Georgia to race in the final round of the United SportsCar Championship at Road Atlanta. Petit Le Mans, as the ten hour race is known, is one that he has competed in once before and in which he helped BMW to a title win.
Now he is in that position again in 2015, where he could be part of the winning team. For the third time this season he will be teaming up with American Bill Auberlen and German Dirk Werner in the number 25 BMW Z4 GTLM entered in the American series by BMW Team RLL. He will also be part of BMW Motorsport history, as this will be the last works outing for this car that goes into the race in a strong position in the championship. Thanks to a win in the last round of the series in Austin, not only are Auberlen and Werner second, by just three points in the driver rankings, but also BMW is in the same position in the GTLM Manufacturer standings.
It goes without saying, the Brazilian driver is very excited at the prospect and his comments before leaving for the States were: “I have a big task, as it is the winning car so I have to give my very best. I am feeling very confident. I think we can do this by bringing all the good vibes from Europe. I want to use all my speed and experience in every way in supporting the team. I have a good relationship with all the drivers and I like the team so much – Bobby and all the guys there.”
This is not his first time in the USCC in 2015, as he has already competed with Bill and Dirk in the opening races of the series – the Daytona 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Sebring in January and March – as well as his fellow BMW DTM driver Bruno Spengler in Daytona. He clearly likes racing in America as he explained: “Every time I go to America I find it very pleasant to travel there. Petit Le Mans is one of the most important endurance races, and for me it is a great pleasure to do it again. I have done it just the once before in 2011, also with Bill and Dirk. That time we were third and BMW won the title. This time I hope we can also complete the special task and hopefully celebrate the title, which I think we deserve.”
On Thursday (1st October) the first track action for the USCC on this 4.088 kilometre (2.54 mile) circuit will be from 11.10 to 12.10 for FP1. On the same day there will be two more free practice sessions from 15.25 to 16.25 and from 19.30 to 21.00. The fourth free practice session will be on Friday from 10.05 to 11.05, and then later in the day the GLTLM cars will qualify from 15.45 to 16.00. The ten-hour ‘Petit Le Mans’ race starts at 11.10 on Saturday and will finish at 21.10. All these are Eastern Standard Time, which is five hours behind BST.
