(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)
Back To Back Wins in IMSA
Amesbury, MA. – October 19th, 2020--
The #96 Turner motorsport / Liqui Moly BMW M4 GT4 piloted by Robby Foley and Vin Barletta won its first race of the 2020 season Friday afternoon at Road Atlanta. This is the Turner motorsport teams 4th race win of the year. In a race that saw an unprecedented level of car to car contact, Foley was the first to take the checkered flag in the 2-hour IMSA GS race. Foley and rookie sensation, Vin Barletta, kept themselves out of trouble and with a little help from a late full course yellow ended up on the top step of the podium in Braselton, GA.
Starting the race from the 9th row, Vin Barletta would slice through the field before handing the car over to co-driver Robby Foley during a full course yellow at the 40-minute mark.
After taking the wheel over from Barletta, Foley started turning quick, consistent laps and moved up to into the top 12 before diving into the pits just before another full course yellow came out. This strategy call would ultimately position Foley at the front of the field for the restart. Foley would hold off some hard-charging competition to cross the finish line just .794 of a second ahead of second place, claiming the #96 car’s first win of the season and the second podium of the season.
“I’m beside myself. Vin did an amazing job to avoid all the carnage during his stint. It was like everyone was racing as if every lap was the last lap and they were all fighting for the lead," said Team Principal Will Turner. “Lots of teams are leaving the weekend with damaged cars."
The #95 BMW M4 GT4 of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley would ultimately finish 10th in the race putting them 7th overall in the season long championship. With two races remaining in the 2020 season, the #95 is 58 points from first and 17 points from 3rd place in the championship.
In the IMSA WeatherTech GTD Class race on Saturday, the #96 BMW M6 driven by the hard working trio of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern would finish a disappointing 9th in the 10-hour endurance race.
“We had a some bad luck today. Shortly after our 6th pit stop, from 7th place, Robby Foley reported a huge vibration in the front end of the car. It was so intense Foley thought a suspension part was failing. He brought the car to pit lane and the Turner team investigated and found all to be OK. The team put new tires on the car and sent Foley back out. Turns out the problem was attributed to the front wheels being severely out of balance. The time spent in pits would put the #96 car down 3 laps and we were never able to get them back,” said Will Turner.
The team will head to Monterey next for another busy weekend where Turner Motorsport will once again field its two GS entries, the #95 and #96 BMW M4 GT4, in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series and the #96 BMW M6 in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class.
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About Turner Motorsport
Turner Motorsport is the leading BMW tuner in North America, bringing technology and expertise from the racetrack to the street for over two decades. Since 1993 the Turner Motorsport Team has competed in over 380 professional races, winning seven professional racing championships in four different series since 2003. The most recent being the 2014 Team Championship in the GTD-class of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Their success is passed into every component that Turner Motorsport designs and sells through their comprehensive website and performance showroom. Our Race Team, R&D Engineers and Sales Team work together, ensuring practical knowledge and state-of-the-art engineering flow in both directions. Few companies in North America can claim such a close relationship to what they sell and what they race.
