Mixed feelings for the BMW M Motorsport teams after the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA series) race at Road America. BMW M Team RLL had a challenging weekend with its two BMW M Hybrid V8s. There was great celebration among the BMW M4 GT3 crews as Turner Motorsport celebrated a class victory in the GTD category. In the GTD PRO, Paul Miller Racing finished in second place.
For Turner Motorsport, the class victory by BMW M works driver Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher marked the end of a long dry spell. The team, led by team principal Will Turner, had last stood at the top of the IMSA podium in 2022 at Mid-Ohio. For the BMW M4 GT3, it was the eagerly awaited first triumph of the current IMSA season. After their third podium of the season, with a second place at Long Beach and a third at Laguna Seca, Foley and Gallagher are in a promising position in the GTD drivers' standings. Paul Miller Racing saw an end to a difficult time this season. The podium finish for BMW M works driver Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers was the team's first since the third place at the 24 Hours of Daytona at the start of the season.
BMW M Team RLL’s two BMW M Hybrid V8s did not achieve the hoped-for first podium of the season. Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn missed qualifying due to an accident in practice but fought their way from the back of the GTP class field to seventh place in the race. Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly were in contention for podium positions in the first hour of the race, but then Yelloly lost control of the car, slid into the track barrier, and retired. Fortunately, Yelloly was uninjured.
The two BMW M Hybrid V8s in the IMSA series and the BMW M4 GT3 of René Rast in the DTM now sport a new logo. The traditional spark plug manufacturer Champion Ignition joins the BMW M Motorsport family as an Official Partner, supporting the two prestigious racing programmes in North America and Europe.
“We are excited to welcome Champion Ignition as Official Partner of BMW M Motorsport,” said Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH. "This is a great fit as our brands are united in engineering excellence and technology leadership. We are looking forward to making this a successful collaboration across our motorsport programmes in IMSA and DTM.” Ananth Parameswaran, Vice President and General Manager of Champion Ignition, said: “Growing rapidly in the OE space with a commitment to engineering, technology, and customer satisfaction, Champion has become one of the world’s largest suppliers of OE spark plugs. This partnership will bring together our brand heritage in racing with our OE pedigree to enhance awareness and build excitement around Champion.”
Unfortunately, the breakthrough we hoped for with our BMW M Hybrid V8 crews did not happen at Road America, and we were unable to translate the good approaches we showed in practice into corresponding results. That is disappointing. Congratulations to Turner Motorsport on the class win and the first success of a BMW M Motorsport team in the current IMSA season.
Comments after the race:
Jesse Krohn (#24 BMW M Hybrid V8, 7th place): “After missing qualifying, we were obviously on the backfoot and tried a strategy that would move us forward. Unfortunately, the yellow phases came at times when we couldn't benefit from them so in the end, seventh place was the maximum, even though we could show good pace on a clear track.”
Nick Yelloly (#25 BMW M Hybrid V8, DNF): “There's not much to say about my accident. I went a bit too far on the curb on cold tyres, the underbody hit the curb, and I slid into the tyre barrier. Luckily, I wasn't hurt.”
Robby Foley (#96 BMW M4 GT3, 1st place GTD class): “What a great day for the entire team! Turner Motorsport is like a second family to me, and I'm incredibly happy to be able to give them all this win. It was a constant up and down in this race, and I never knew if we had the right strategy or not. Luckily, it worked out in the end. We could have had one or two class victories earlier this season. It's all the more beautiful that it has finally worked out now. Thanks to everyone for this fantastic job today.”
Madison Snow (#1 BMW M4 GT3, 2nd place GTD PRO class): “We stayed strong in this turbulent race, fought until the end, did a good job in all areas, and thus kept ourselves in the leading group. That was crucial for this second place.”