Now in its sophomore season in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series, BimmerWorld Racing has established itself as one of the premier entrants in the paddock, but that doesn't mean the BMW experts from Dublin, Virginia are immune to the lows that occasionally temper the highs they've experienced since joining the series in 2010.
In what can only be described as an abnormal result for BimmerWorld's pair of BMW 328is, the No. 80 entry driven by 2010 MESCO Rookie of the Year Bill Heumann and David White battled back from adversity to take 13th place at the end of the race at Homestead-Miami, and the No. 81 BMW 328i of Gregory Liefooghe and John Capestro-DuBets settled for 33rd place in ST after suffering a freak engine failure.
Team owner James Clay has grown to expect pole positions, wins and fastest laps from BimmerWorld's rapid ST BMWs, and even though the Homestead-Miami race didn't live up to expectations, he says there's no need to let the event slow their momentum.
"Certainly this was not a good weekend for us, and I feel good about writing it off as exactly that - a bad weekend. We had some power issues that were difficult to diagnose, especially knowing the level of preparation we had put in before this weekend specifically in that department. What allows me and the rest of the drivers to move on mentally after a challenge like this is the knowledge that this level of performance is simply not acceptable in our organization. We have a lot of clever guys behind the scenes that will pick everything apart, learn what we can do to prevent this atypical result and make sure this never happens again. We are in this series to win a Championship and we will be coming with our guns fully loaded as we catch up from the setback at Homestead."
Heumann was fast once again in qualifying and followed the team's game plan to open the race, but with the jostling of more than 60 cars on track to deal with, body contact proved to be unavoidable for the No. 80 328i. The drives by he and David White made all of the work executed by the BimmerWorld crew on pit lane well worth the effort.
"While a 13th place finish isn't what we wanted, I feel like we ran a good race," Heumann said. "Unfortunately, sometimes in racing the results don't match the performance. My job is to keep the car fast and clean so to that extent I try to avoid all contact. I feel like I did a pretty good job doing that with the kind of race that Homestead turned out to be. We had some hits early that seemed fairly minor but were enough to knock the alignment off a bit. We were able to keep running, but at about one second per lap off the pace we needed. In this series with the number of cars on the track, the level of competition and the relative performance of the cars, contact sometimes is inevitable. That being said, it's the driver's responsibility to manage those risks so the car stays clean. David and I will be reviewing data and video between now and Barber to see what I could have done better."
White drove an especially inspired final stint, passing a number of cars along the way to 13th in class. The combined efforts of the No. 80 duo has Heumann and White sitting 14th in the championship standings with two races down and eight left to run.
"Homestead was a tough race with lots of early cautions and hard fought battles all race long," said White. "Bill did an excellent job in his stint and the BimmerWorld crew executed a flawless pit stop. Although we didn't quite have the pace we were hoping for, Bill and I both drove as hard as we could all race long. Unfortunately our finishing position didn't reflect the amount of hard work by everyone on the BimmerWorld team this weekend. We're hungry to show what our No. 80 BimmerWorld BMW 328i is capable of, and getting to the finish line unscathed is what we'll need to do to deliver on our potential."
Like BimmerWorld's team owner, Liefooghe has turned the page on Homestead-Miami and prefers to look at the positives that came out of the weekend. As the veteran touring car ace shares, he doesn't have to look very far to find a reason to be optimistic about the next race.
"My teammate John did a very good job this weekend. He managed to stay out of trouble during his stint, which was not an easy task. Also, he showed that even though we did not have the level of performance we enjoyed at Daytona, we still had a platform that was fast enough for a top 5. All we can do now is move on and focus on the rest of the season. I know this is only a kink in our championship run, and we'll come back better than ever in Barber."
Capestro-DuBets started off his rookie season in GRAND-AM--only his second season of racing in any form of competition--with an impressive podium finish in the No. 81 with Liefooghe at Daytona. But, in a season that will be filled with lessons--from representing his team at Executive Management Inc. to learning the intricacies of pro racing--he says dealing with a tough result like he experienced at Homestead-Miami is also valuable to his growth.
"From my perspective, I feel like we did everything in our power to do well this weekend and luck was just not on our side. This is just a minor setback in my eyes. I'm going to put it behind me and go to Barber with the mindset it takes to win a championship. The big thing is to learn and grow from the experience. BimmerWorld has supported me at every step and I am very thankful for how hard they work to give us the best cars possible. I am ready to go to the next round and even I'm more motivated then I was after Daytona. Greg and I work well together and we'll go to Barber focused on earning the best results possible."
Watch the Homestead-Miami race on March 19th at 2 p.m. ET on SPEED. Follow BimmerWorld's progress at www.BimmerWorldRacing.com as they prepare for the Barber 200, in Leeds, Alabama the weekend of April 7-9.
