Yelloly: RLL Looking to ‘Get on a Roll’ to Close Out Season

Nick Yelloly hopes BMW M Team RLL will be able to “get on a bit of a roll” in the remaining IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship rounds as the team seeks its first podium finish of the season in the GTP class.

Yelloly and co-driver Connor De Phillippi sit eighth in the drivers’ standings with the rounds at Road America, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta remaining, one position behind stablemates Jesse Krohn and Philipp Eng.

BMW and Lamborghini are the only manufacturers yet to score a podium finish so far this season, although Yelloly, De Phillippi and Maxime Martin narrowly missed out when they finished fourth in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Yelloly paints a picture of missed opportunities that have plagued RLL for much of the campaign, noting that the No. 25 crew “put ourselves in positions to have podiums” but failed to deliver through varying circumstances.

“Even in Sebring, we got the late yellow when we were running in second,” Yelloly told Sportscar365.

“Had that not been the case, we’d have probably finished second. We screwed ourselves in Long Beach but we were on for a podium there. Obviously, we qualified second. We were good there.

“In Detroit, we made a mistake driving wise and had a crash or a few incidents but it was another podium on the cards definitely. 

“Watkins, we actually did really well and we were running third until the last stop. At that point I think one of the tires had dropped off the other side of the wall so then it was a slightly slower stop and we finished sixth.

“Maybe the result hasn’t come as easy as it did last year. But also, you can’t lose all your luck in one year, can you?”

Yelloly spoke of a higher level in the second year of the GTP class which resulted in rival teams being less error-prone, although he laments “nothing has fallen together as it should” for RLL amidst its own improvements.

“I feel like we made few mistakes last year as an organization [and as] drivers and when they faltered we picked up the results,” he said.

“We were also very fast in Watkins last year so I feel like we deserve what we’ve got there. But this year, the level has obviously got higher. I would say our level has got higher as well but nothing has fallen together as it should.”

The British racer remained adamant yet level-headed about RLL’s ability to score a major result in the final three GTP races of the season, commenting that ‘things can hopefully fall into place.’

“Of course, it would be nice to get a result, at least because we have shown some promise, but it’s racing,” Yelloly said.

“I’m not chasing a result particularly, just doing my job and hopefully it can fall into place.

“Road America, we had a test there a few weeks ago and that’s good because usually if we tested somewhere, like we did at Watkins last year, e have an idea of what the car is going to do and we can roll off the truck in a better shape.

“I think also just a bit of confidence from the one result will then help us just hopefully get on a bit of a roll, but at the moment it’s just been maybe a pit stop issue or a little mistake in terms of set-up and not quite got the qualifying right.

“The thing is [that] we’re trying to bring new software updates and tweaks all the time, so it could well be that we get it spot on at Road America.

“I remember Porsche that did last year and suddenly they were flying. That was the race that really turned around for them.

“So if we can get something going good that would be great. I feel like on pace we should have got at least a few podiums by now.”