BimmerWorld & Fall-Line Leguna Seca Press Releases

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BimmerWorld Scores Top-6 Finish with Turbocharged BMW at Laguna Seca
May 6th, 2015




By all accounts, the BMW aftermarket and tuning experts at BimmerWorld had a wildly successful trip to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The team’s turbocharged BMW 328i platform was fast in the hands of the drivers who pilot the Nos. 81 and 84 entries, and with local driver Andrie Hartanto combining with teammate Tyler Cooke to place sixth in the Street Tuner class with the 81, it almost felt like a win for the veteran program.

Based on the vast performance inequity between normal-size cars like BimmerWorld’s BMWs and the miniscule cars that have dominated the ST class at the event for five years running, it was hardly a surprise to see the smallest, lightest machines in the field capture the top four positions in the race.

Resigned to a best-in-normal-class outcome, team owner/driver James Clay was realistic in his expectations where finishing sixth was akin to earning second, albeit without the extra Championship points.

“Our BimmerWorld BMWs were strong this weekend – as strong as it gets behind the midget front-runners that typically dominate Laguna,” he said. “We are there racing for the best of the rest of the field, and the 81′s run to sixth was second step on the podium in our eyes. And if not for a piece of bad luck, the 84 would have been right there as well.”

Even with the bad luck that left Clay and co-driver Jason Briedis in 23rd at the end of the race in the No. 84 OPTIMA BMW 328i, Clay was pleased with the performance from Hartanto and the impressive effort by Cooke.

“I was super happy to see the 81 running so strong,” he remarked. “I know Andrie wasn’t thrilled with his qualifying effort which was diminished with a crack in a charge pipe, but as we expected, he quickly picked his way to the front at his home track. Tyler moved forward in his stint and hung in there for a solid result — it was great for them to lock down a good finish.”

For Hartanto, who is in the midst of a solid rookie season in the Continental Tire Series, Monterey was nothing but a positive event.

“Finishing strong at my home event is very important, especially with friends and family in attendance,” he said. “Having a strong teammate in Tyler certainly helps the cause. I’m really happy we were able to show that we have the pace and looking forward to the next race in Watkins Glen.”



No. 81 BMW 328i: Tyler Cooke and Andrie Hartanto

Cooke: The race went very well with the 81 car. Andrie did a great job bringing the car to fourth and both Jason and Andrie showed great team work by working together bringing the cars into the pits in the top-5. My stint was very good, too; I could run close to the same pace as the leaders but couldn’t get close enough to them. All things considered, this was a great race for us and the team moving into Watkins.

Hartanto: My disappointment with qualifying was dampened by learning that a boost leak impacted our result. It was so exciting to be able to fight our way up the field. When our engineer radioed that we were leading the race, it was memorable. The couple of laps in the lead were awesome. Yes, it may have boiled down to the pit stop timing of the eventual winners, but I’ll never forget hearing our engineer over the radio saying that we had the lead.

No. 84 OPTIMA BMW 328i: James Clay and Jason Briedis

Briedis: We had a solid qualifying starting sixth. I was able slip into fourth when the Honda and the Porsche got together heading into Turn 6. From there we ran in 4th most of the race. James was on track for a strong finish until the mechanical issue. Our car is getting better and better each race and we hope to contend for some wins soon.

Clay: I have historically done well at Laguna, and Jason and I had a fast car last year. The track really came to us perfectly and we were on our way to another strong result until bad luck stepped in in the form of metal fatigue and left us both wishing it wasn’t seven weeks until Watkins.

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FALL-LINE SETTLES FOR FIFTH AND ELEVENTH AT LAGUNA



Buffalo Grove, IL (May 5, 2015)- While it wasn’t the result that Fall-Line’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge team had hoped for, the two-car BMW lineup battled hard at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last weekend to finish fifth and eleventh in the third round of the 2015 season.



The duo of Trent Hindman and Ashley Freiberg started eleventh and both drivers drove flawless races to earn their third top-ten result of the year. Hindman arrived at the track straight from Munich, Germany where he spent the week with the newly announced BMW Motorsport Junior program. Hindman is one of four drivers selected for this prestigious program this year and the only American chosen in many years. Continuing the BMW theme, Freiberg was named a BMW North America driver in March and is a wonderful representative of the team and the BMW brand. This dynamic duo have not had the success that they have deserved thus far this season but the determination and dedication of both will certainly shine through.

Ashley Freiberg: “All of Fall-Line Motorsports fought hard to bring the IHG Rewards Club / Trim-Tex BMW to finish 5th. I think everyone knows that we are capable of being back on that podium where we truly belong. I am proud of the job everyone did, and I know we all fully plan on continuing this fight in full-force race-in and race-out to get the result we know we can get. Our time will come. Let’s go get ‘em at the Glen!”


Trent Hindman: “It’s definitely not an easy pill to swallow when we can execute a race as well as we did but not have a result to show for it. Ultimately, Ashley drove a great stint and hats off to our Fall-Line crew who gave us a great car as well as performing beautifully on pit lane. I drove as hard as I could to move up the field on each restart and fortunately we were able to make some progress. As always, a huge thank you goes out to everyone at Fall-Line as well as our partners Trim-Tex, IHG Rewards Club, and Top 1 Oil for their continued support. Looking forward to getting a much deserved result for these guys at the Glen.”


Mark Boden and Tonis Kasemets had similar struggles with pace as the 46 car. Their race pace was solid and they improved five positions from qualifying to race. This duo is looking forward to the next race at Watkins Glen which is the site of Boden’s first victory in GS in 2013.

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If you're interested in what Turner Motorsports had to say for themselves, look here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1122971