In only their eighth
Daytona Prototype start together, Team Sigalsport
BMW Riley co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Matthew Alhadeff registered their maiden Grand-Am victory in the Grand Prix of Miami after starting right towards the back of the grid.
With just 11 laps remaining, Auberlen swept to the inside of 2005 Daytona Prototype co-champion Max Angelelli in the SunTrust Pontiac Riley in Turn Six and emerged with a lead he would hold to the chequered flag, crossing the line with an advantage of a scant 1.759 seconds after 91 laps of racing and having begun the race down in 15th on the grid. What's more, the result marked the first success for BMW since the 2005 season finale in Mexico City.
First of all, it feels unbelievable, the two-time Rolex Series GT champion expressed afterwards. It came earlier than I even expected. I knew we had a learning curve with the car the team had a gelling curve, where everybody has to come together but it's all coming together so fast. We've got a good motor programme now and everything is good, so to win this is one of the best wins I've ever had. It was one of the hardest-fought wins I've ever had too.
As far as the pass on Angelelli goes, on the re-start before that I was much faster than him, but it was like he drove in his mirrors. Everywhere I went, that's where he wound up. I was like, I can't go by, so I have to make myself invisible'. If you put a Daytona Prototype right behind another one, they can't see you. I tucked right up behind him to where I knew he couldn't see me, waited for his brake lights to come on, and when he did that I went just a second longer. It was too much for him. For him to do it, we would have had to wreck. I passed him, went out and the car was strong.
For Alhadeff, who drove the first 21 laps before turning the car over to Auberlen under the day's second of seven full-course cautions, the win signalled his maiden professional race victory in his eighth Daytona Prototype start and 26th overall Rolex Series start in a career that began only two years ago.
![Auberlen/Sigal/Alhadeff/Wendlinger - Sigalsport Riley-BMW [pic credit: Grand-Am media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/285932.jpg)
