BMW Media Site BMW Team RLL Qualifies Fourth and Sixth at Watkins Glen. Edwards - P4, DePhillippi - P6 Contact: Bill  Cobb BMW billcobbcommunications@yahoo.com   Oleg  Satanovsky BMW oleg.satanovsky@bmwna.com   Thomas   Plucinsky BMW thomas.plucinsky@bmwna.com     Kathi Lauterbach Rahal Letterman Lanigan, VP of Communications 317-297-8064 (office) 317-447-4337 (cell) klauterbach@rahal.com BMW Team RLL Qualifies Fourth and Sixth at Watkins Glen. Edwards - P4, DePhillippi - P6 Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – June 29, 2019…BMW Team RLL will start tomorrow’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen from the fourth and sixth GTLM class qualifying positions. John Edwards qualified the No. 24 BMW M8 GTE fourth with a 1:41.301 minute lap around the venerable Watkins Glen International circuit, only .502 seconds from the pole sitting No. 3 Corvette C7.R. He will co-drive tomorrow with Jesse Krohn. Connor DePhillippi will start the No. 25 BMW M8 GTE from the sixth position after posting a 1:41.414 minute lap. He will co-drive with Tom Blomqvist tomorrow.“Qualifying was a little bit of an unknown for us today.” said Brandon Fry, BMW Team RLL Technical Director. “With the high temps yesterday and the rain this morning we didn’t have a lot of data to go off of. We tested here with cooler temperatures earlier in the year and we feel comfortable running in the cooler temperatures which looks like will be the case tomorrow. Nonetheless, a solid job all around and it doesn’t really matter where you start, I think the cars are a little better then yesterday, so we’re looking forward to the race tomorrow which should be good to us.”In today’s earlier session, Dillon Machavern qualified the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 in the third GTD class starting position with a 1:45.506 minute lap. He will co-drive tomorrow with Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley. Last season, Machavern was part of the winning Turner Motorsport trio in this race along with Markus Palttala and Don Yount.The green flag for the Sahlen’s Six Hours Of The Glen falls at 9:45 a.m. ET tomorrow. A three-hour review broadcast of the race will air on NBCSN beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. Follow us on Twitter @BMWUSARacing for news from the pit box and get live scoring and in-car camera views at IMSA.com.John Edwards, driver No. 24 BMW M8 GTE (P4):“I had a good lap but did not feel that it was possible to do a 1:40.7 so I do not think pole was within reach but we were close to P3 or P2. Ultimately, it is a six hour race and we are in the pack so we'll see what we've got tomorrow. I had a bit of a peak in lap time early on in qualifying and will go back and try to ensure that we can maintain our pace for the full stint.”Connor DePhillippi, driver No. 25 BMW M8 GTE (P6):“I think compared to yesterday, we made some steps forward in terms of overall car balance and we need to go more in this direction but it's definitely a good step forward. We were in the pack during qualifying but we'll have to see how we do in the long stints tomorrow. The cooler temperatures definitely play to our car and engine strengths, so I think we should find a smaller difference between the teams tomorrow. With some changes to the car I think we will be in the mix for a podium if not the win.”Dillon Machavern, driver No. 96 BMW M6 GT3 (P3):“The car felt really good. We didn’t get a ton of time in practice, especially myself, I missed out on this morning session. It just wasn’t worth it for me to go in the rain so we had Robby get some time. The car was great. I’m still learning some things out there but it seems like over the long run we’re going to have a really solid package. The car feels a lot better than last year and our lineup this year is really strong so I think we’re going to be moving up to the front again.”BMW Group In AmericaBMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; technology offices in Silicon Valley and Chicago, and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and manufactures the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 347 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 148 BMW motorcycle retailers, 122 MINI passenger car dealers, and 37 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingBMW’s partner, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, based in Hilliard, Ohio and co-owned by three-time IndyCar Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former CBS Late Show host David Letterman and Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan, has been competing for almost three decades. Prior to the start of their 27th season of competition in 2018, the team had compiled 42 victories, 53 poles, 162 podium finishes, three series championships (1992, 2010, 2011) and claimed an Indianapolis 500 victory (Buddy Rice in 2004). In 2009 the team joined BMW of North America to campaign the new BMW M3 in the American Le Mans Series. The following year the team won both the Manufacturer and Team Championships in the GT category and swept all three GT titles - Manufacturer, Team and Driver – in 2011. In 2012, the team finished second in the Team Championship and third in the Manufacturer Championship and in 2013, the team finished second in the Driver, Team and Manufacturer Championship. Since 2014, BMW Team RLL has competed in the GTLM class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a two car program and has brought their total to 17 wins, 23 poles and 68 podium finishes as well as a second place finish in the Manufacturer, Team and Driver championships in 2015 and 2017.Journalist note:  Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwgroupusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.