"Long Time Endurance Racer" Bill Auberlen Born - October 12, 1968

October 12, 1968

Bill Auberlen

Born in Redondo Beach, California, USA.

Auberlen is an American factory race car driver known for his affiliation with BMW, driving cars made and run by the famous German marque for a number of years. His career started in the 1970s in motocross, with Auberlen moving to IMSA GTU in 1987. He stayed there until 1997, his last year resulting in him winning the championship. During his time in the IMSA Series he had also become the 1996 Peruvian Formula Three champion. Other competitions Auberlen has competed in during his career include the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series (1999-2003), driving a BMW V12 LMR in 1999 and 2000 for Schnitzer Motorsport. During the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in 2000, his BMW did a spectacular back flip over the same hump over which Yannick Dalmas backflipped in a Porsche 911 GT1 in 1998.

Auberlen briefly stepped up to Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype class in 2003, in addition to driving a BMW 325i for Turner Motorsport in World Challenge touring. Auberlen won both the 2003 and 2004 Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship behind the wheel of a Turner Motorsport BMW 325i. By doing so, Auberlen ended an eight-year Honda / Acura domination of the series.

For 2004, Auberlen dedicated himself to the production-based World Challenge GT class for BMW Motorsport's Prototype Technology Group team, earning the series championship for BMW. In 2005, Auberlen continued to drive for BMW PTG in Grand-Am's GT series, while also driving for Panoz Racing in IMSA's American Le Mans Series. In 2006, Auberlen is once again exclusively driving BMW's, an M3 for Sigalsport's Grand-Am GT team, an M3 for Turner's Grand-Am team and an M3 for BMW PTG's ALMS team.

Bill Auberlen has driven BMW cars in more races than any other driver in the world. He has won six professional auto-racing championships, four with BMW power. He has competed in over 500 professional races to date, 339 in BMWs. His results include 91 race victories, 188 podium finishes, 56 pole positions, 83 fastest race laps and 110 records. For the past two seasons, Auberlen has driven the BMW M6 GTLM in the IMSA GTLM class for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

(Photo; motrface.com)

In addition to his racing success, Auberlen has designed and built fast boats and bikes. Using motorsport technology, he developed X Power Drive, a high-performance boating outdrive, engineered a custom 1554-hp Chevrolet engine that powered his open-bow Carrera catamaran to numerous world speed and acceleration records. He also built a custom turbocharged 420 hp motorcycle.