The competition in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GTLM class continues to get tougher and tougher with BMW’s John Edwards today becoming the eighth driver to score pole position in eight races this season.

Edwards outpaced the Dodge Viper duo to score his first TUDOR Championship pole – the second for BMW this year. Andy Priaulx scored the team’s other top spot earlier this season at Watkins Glen.

Road America has been host to much of BMW Team RLL’s success. In 2009, Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand drove to the program’s first American Le Mans Series GT class victory after earning the team’s first pole position. In 2010, Hand and Dirk Müller were the GT class winners. In 2011, the second and third steps of the podium were reached. In 2012, Auberlen and Jörg Müller were back on top of the GT podium. Last season, the team finished seventh and eighth in the first race for the Z4 GTLM at Road America.

Not only has the pole positions been spread through the field – eight different drivers have also scored the fastest race laps in eight races this season.

“That was a really fun session. The first two quick laps I did, I was just missing putting all the sectors together,” Edwards said.

“I had found most of what was in the car except I didn’t put it all together in one lap. So on that final lap to feel like I got it all together was a good feeling.

“As a driver I like qualifying, but we need to keep the momentum for the race. Obviously, the traffic is always an issue for us so we need to keep our heads down and try to get back on the podium.

“We gained 1.8 seconds from the last practice to the qualifying session. I’m still a little baffled to how everyone gained that much time. Nevertheless, the car was excellent.

“The tires were coming in better and better each lap. Everyone was cycling through, I came across P1 and then kind of dropped back to 2nd, third, fourth. Then came around the P1 again.

“Ultimately, on my 3rd lap it was identical to my first lap, I knew I lost a few tenths and gained them back. I said OK, we need to put the sectors back together. Fortunately, I was able to gain them back on the last lap.”

In the GT Daytona class Australian James Davison scored his first TUDOR Championship pole for Aston Martin over BMW’s Dane Cameron.

Top three in class (overall in parentheses):
(23) #56-GTLM John Edwards (BMW Z4 GTE) 2:03.747
(24) #93-GTLM Jonathan Bomarito (Dodge Viper SRT) 2:03.813 (0.066-)
(25) #91-GTLM Marc Goossens (Dodge Viper SRT) 2:03.930 (0.183-)

(33) #007-GTD James Davison (Aston Martin V12 Vantage) 2:09.079
(34) #94-GTD Dane Cameron (BMW Z4) 2:09.293 (0.214-)
(35) #33-GTD Jeroen Bleekemolen (Dodge Viper SRT) 2:09.345 (0.266-)