http://www.grand-am.com/News/Article.asp?ID=7903

Had a hell of a race yesterday at Homestead, culminating in the first win for the Sigalsport/Luggage Express Dinan-BMW Powered Riley in Grand Am. He took it to the "big" teams from Ganassi and Wayne Taylor, and held both of them off for the final 12-15 minutes. Great win, and great to see BMW still winning somewhere in sports car racing.

-Charlie

You need Spoiler in the title...and remove Auberlen, gives too much away.

The race was shown live, what's there for a "spoiler"?

-Charlie

People who did not watch it live. Its forum etiquette, no big deal :)

i had to leave midway through the race so i didn't see the finish. i'm glad auberlen was able to fight his way through the field and take the win!

does anybody know where Patrick Long finished?

does anybody know where Patrick Long finished?
I think, 7th. Long got screwed by Braun....
Auberlen drove one hell of a race. That pass on Angelleli (sp?) was just so masterful, it was like he was a rookie...
Jake

I think, 7th. Long got screwed by Braun....
Jake


he sure did...broke my heart :(. From that 2nd place position he had just obtained before being cold-heartedly spun around I believe he had the speed to take the race. Despite the P-car rivalry I'm still a die-hard supporter of AJR since they're local boys. Wish they had gotten a P2 car to run in ALMS from Porsche.

People get touchy about spoilers, even if it was live. At this point it's not a big deal, hey they won the race! I've been enjoying that pass on Max over and over. Bill is truly the best of the best American Road Racers and it looks like the Dinan motor should not have been cast aside. I haven't been to any of the races yet this year, but it sounds like Bill's really on top of it and may have more control of where the team is going. He's got the experience to add to any team, but this one seems to have the enthusiasm and funds to keep up with him. They've been good in all of the races, but found some bad luck along the way. The win was going to happen eventually. Now there's plenty of time for more.

I was loving it watching on the tube yesterday. I've always been a big fan of Auberlen, he can do so much behind the wheel, even with a less than ideal setup. I was also very happy for Steve Dinan. He was a big help to our WC program last year, and getting to see them win a race is a great boost for them.

Yeah Billy is the cream of the crop in my opinion. Great guy too. Very modest for how good he is. I have even more respect for him after working with him last year at the 25 Hour. Brad, and I set the car up and he could feel one click of bump on any corner of the car in between sessions. Amazing

Dale

just saw the clips on speed report, great to see them win!

Yeah Billy is the cream of the crop in my opinion. Great guy too. Very modest for how good he is. I have even more respect for him after working with him last year at the 25 Hour. Brad, and I set the car up and he could feel one click of bump on any corner of the car in between sessions. Amazing

Dale

Having spoken with him at races I've attended, he's always been very accessible and friendly. I downloaded the Curitiba WTCC race from last weekend, Farfus won the second race. The Eurosport commentators were remarking about non-German drivers, who have won for BMW over the years, and the only one they mentioned was Billy. There might be others (Tom Kristensen ?), but that says a lot. There certainly aren't many non-Europeans.

WTCC FTW :)

Has Billy ever had a chance to drive WTCC?

Having spoken with him at races I've attended, he's always been very accessible and friendly. I downloaded the Curitiba WTCC race from last weekend, Farfus won the second race. The Eurosport commentators were remarking about non-German drivers, who have won for BMW over the years, and the only one they mentioned was Billy. There might be others (Tom Kristensen ?), but that says a lot. There certainly aren't many non-Europeans.

sorry for OT, but where do you download WTCC off the internet from?

http://www.fiawtcc.com/

They have free video broadcasts of the events, its awesome.

Hell yeah, props to Billy,
I was there and it was a very exciting race.
Very approachable driver as well- always cool and collected and willing to chat with a fan.
Bill is the Man.

http://www.fiawtcc.com/

They have free video broadcasts of the events, its awesome.

bookmarked.. thanks!

Congrats to Sigalsport and Bill!

The Eurosport commentators were remarking about non-German drivers, who have won for BMW over the years, and the only one they mentioned was Billy. There might be others (Tom Kristensen ?), but that says a lot. There certainly aren't many non-Europeans.

Boris Said and Andy Priaulx come to mind.

WTCC FTW :)

Has Billy ever had a chance to drive WTCC?

They didn't mean WTCC. They were referring to his time in the V12 LMR with the Schnitzer Team. They were saying that BMW Motorsport is very serious about picking drivers who can win in referring to the Farfus win in the second race. Have any other Brazilians driven for BMW? Another American would be Eddie Cheever, who drove for the BMW Junior Team in the 70's. That was a long time ago though.

Andy Priaulx would be considered European, but Boris is another good one they didn't remember. Of course, Boris just drove the GTR in the 24 hour Nurburgring race not a full season like Bill did with the V12 LMR. In the American Lemans Series, Bill brought along knowledge of the tracks in the US.

Steve's right you can watch the WTCC live from Eurosport. You can also download, using Bittorrent, full Quicktime videos of the hour shows on the races, qualifying, etc.

http://motorsport-torrents.info/

I just stream the race videos off the fiawtcc server, very fast, and good quality. You can open it full screen in WMplayer as well.

Also, I was just asking in general, has Auberlen ever ran WTCC? Would be interesting to watch him race that series.

WTCC is the most exciting racing I watch, its pretty tough to beat.

Andy Priaulx would be considered European,

Well, non-continental European to be exact. :D He never drove for Team Schnitzer though, but the Germans do seem to recognize his talent.

David Hobbs drove the 3.5CSL and 320 Turbo for BMW in both America and Europe, and he now resides in America. :D

If I'm not mistaken, Sam Posey was once a BMW factory driver as well.

I was at CCA tech fest last night and there was an entire round of applause dedicated to Auberlen after Steve Dinan announced they had won. He got simultaneous mad props from several hundred people!

congrats, gl with the rest of the year !!

awsome race. Congrats to bill drove one heck of a race...

Great race, excellent to see BMW in the winners circle agan:buttrock , CONGRADS to the whole team No. 05 Luggage Express Team Sigalsport BMW Riley co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Matthew Alhadeff. Keep Up the Good Work- Win Them ALL!

a round of applause to the entire Sigalsport team and of course Alhadeff and Bill....they drove a hell of a race and deserved the win.

Big Congrats to the team!

Check out the story on the www.Sigalsport.com site:

http://www.sigalsport.com/news.php?view=today

And photo gallery:
http://www.sigalsport.com/e-zphoto/

http://www.sigalsport.com/photos/700.jpg