Lakeville, CT - May 29, 2010 - Joey Hand and Michael Marsal earned their second consecutive GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport (GS) race victory Saturday at Lime Rock Park, giving Turner Motorsport its 21st series class triumph in the team's 200th professional race.

Hand inherited the lead from teammate Bill Auberlen - who dominated much of the second half of the race - on Lap 132 of the 147-lap race when Auberlen was forced to pit as a result to damage to the rear suspension. Hand, in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport / Stoptech BMW M3, then held off a charging Mustange over the final 15 minutes to put the car in winner's circle once again, this time by 0.298 seconds.

The Turner Motorsport team - which took on fuel only versus other teams who took fuel and tires - has now won four of the five GS races held at the 1.53-mile, seven-turn Connecticut track, and BMW kept its perfect record of five GS victories in as many starts. All 200 of Turner's pro races have been in BMWs.

Auberlen, who was shooting for his third GS victory at Lime Rock, was 16 seconds ahead of Hand and the competing Mustange when he was forced to pit and subsequently retired in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport / H&R BMW M3 he shared with Paul Dalla Lana. But it was Hand, the 2009 co-winner with Chris Gleason, who was there to make history for Turner Motorsport.

"This place never raises any doubts when I come here," said Hand, whose No. 97 BMW M3 had less than a gallon of fuel left in the tank at the checkered flag. "I was a little worried there at the end when I checked my mirrors, but [the Mustange] raced me cleanly, and I appreciate that. And it feels really good to make more history on an already historic day for Turner Motorsport."

Additionally, Hand and Marsal powered to the top of the points standings, previously trailing first by only 1 point, now leading by four points (145-141) over the second place team.

"We were having some handling issues at the beginning, but the guys fixed that and we were contenders," Marsal said. "We fixed strong."

The race's two caution periods resulted in an average speed of 89.488 mph.

The next event for Turner Motorsport and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will be the Continental Tire 150 on Saturday, June 5, at Watkins Glen International.

In the Rolex GT class, the Turner team's luck was not as favorable. Despite having a stout driver line up in Paul Dalla Lana, Joey Hand, and Bill Auberlen, the day didn’t end in a shower of champagne spray as so many traditionally have for Turner Motorsport at Lime Rock Park. 

Dalla Lana opened the race from behind the wheel and clicked off lap after lap, fighting not just the mixed-class Daytona Prototype and GT class competition, but also the intense heat on offer in the cockpit of the sleek GT class machine. Track and ambient temperatures rose though the day, as the Canadian’s racer moved up from 11th on the starting grid. 

But a long green flag run, coupled with the lightweight and quick Mazda machines that went on to score 1-2-3-4 at the finish, meant that Dalla Lana was fighting from a lap down to the leaders before turning the car over to Auberlen. The yellow flags continued to play havoc with team strategy, keeping first Auberlen, and then Hand, from making up the ground on the field. After 2.75-hours of racing, the trio combined for an eighth place result after a hard-fought race on the teams home track. 

"It was a frustrating day," said Dalla Lana. "I was hoping to have a chance to stay closer to the front, but we got a yellow flag on the first corner, and then then nothing for an hour and a half and that was not our ideal situation for the strategy we had worked out. Mazdas were 1,2,3,4, so we are fighting that battle as well. They have a good car and good drivers. It was tough here at Lime Rock, but the car should much better suited for the Glen. We may need a little luck, but we will be there!" 

"We knew coming here that this was not the car to have at Lime Rock Park," offered team owner Will Turner. "Even though its a BMW-powered car, it just cant compete with the Mazdas here and they had a great result. The cautions didn't go our way at all. We were hoping to get a yellow early and then start cycling our drivers through and keeping them all fresh for every stint, but the early yellow that we got was just too early to do that. It is also a challenge today with the heat for the drivers--that car is very hot. 

I wouldn't put my biggest enemy in there. We showed that the BMW had some pace, but only until we burned off our tires a little bit. But the car is in good shape for Watkins Glen, and the guys are going to work on packing up, getting out of here, getting to Watkins Glen and seeing what we can do. It should be a better place for this car." 

Turner Motorsport will post another dual-campaign next weekend as the team takes the points lead in GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge to upstate New York, and returns to Rolex Sports Car Series competition with the 6 hour.