BMW Road Atlanta Preview

PTG BMW M3s Ready to Attack Redesigned Road Atlanta Layout

BRASELTON, Ga., June 14, 1998: Even though the Prototype Technology Group BMW M3 team has paid its fair share of visits to Road Atlanta over the years, next weekend's (June 19-21) Sports Car Grand Prix at Road Atlanta, Round Four of Professional Sports Car Racing's 1998 GT Series Presented by Virgin Interactive, will be like visiting a brand new track for very the first time. The 2.5-mile circuit has been resurfaced and reconfigured for this season. A key change was the removal of the legendary "dip" near the end of is lengthy backstraight - replaced by a quick left- and right-hand corner. "It's a whole new track, as far as I'm concerned," says PTG driver Ross Bentley, of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, who did some recent testing at the newly resurfaced and redesigned layout. "If you've been there before, there's a part of you that will miss the 'dip.' But they've made it into a wonderful track. We're going to have some exciting racing."

Bentley and the full cast of six PTG drivers will be on hand for Sunday's 3-hour, 45-minute race. He'll be joined by defending GT3 driver's champion Bill Auberlen, of Redondo Beach, Calif., Boris Said and Mark Simo, both of Carlsbad, Calif., Marc Duez, of Monte Carlo, and Peter Cunningham, of West Bend, Wis. They'll share the driving duties behind three PTG BMW M3s, including the Nos. 10 and 1 Yokohama/Fina BMW M3 four-doors in the GT3 class, where the team is unbeaten through the first three SPORTS CAR events this season. PTG also has entered its No. 6 Yokohama/Fina BMW M3 coupe in the GT2 class, where it has won twice in two attempts thus far.

Race time is set for 1 p.m. EDT Sunday. It will be broadcast on Speedvision at 9 p.m. EDT on Monday, June 22.