It was a mixed feeling for the BMW M Motorsport teams after the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship (IMSA series) race at Road America (USA) held over the weekend.
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 (both USA) 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 (USA).
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 (USA) and a third at Laguna Seca (USA), 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 (both USA) was the team’s first since the third place at the 24 Hours of Daytona (USA) 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 (AUT) and Jesse Krohn (FIN) 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 (USA) and Nick Yelloly (GBR) 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.
Reacting, Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport) expressed his disappointment over the failure of BMW to record a breakthrough as planned.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “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. The #24 car managed an improvement from the very back of the GTP starting grid to seventh place after missing qualifying. We lost the sister car from a good position due to an accident. I’m glad that nothing happened to Nick Yelloly.
We will continue to work hard to turn things around this season and reward ourselves with good results. Congratulations to Turner Motorsport on the class win and the first success of a BMW M Motorsport team in the current IMSA season. We were close several times and have achieved podium places with the BMW M4 GT3, but it was only now that we made it to the very top of the podium. Congratulations again to Paul Miller Racing for the second place in the GTD PRO class. I hope we can add more successes in the second half of the season.”
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