(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)
MID-OHIO WIN!
Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 Back in Victory Lane at Mid-Ohio
Record 63rd IMSA Win For Bill Auberlen.
Amesbury, Mass. – May 16, 2021 ---
Bill Auberlen shared his all-time record 63rd IMSA victory with Robby Foley, and the Turner Motorsport team today at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the co-drivers racing the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 to the GTD class win in the two-hour-and-forty-minute Acura Sports Car Challenge race. Defeating the 13-car field, that represented eight different manufacturers, the win was the first for the BMW drivers this season and a record fifth GT class victory for 52-year-old Auberlen at the classic 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural terrain road course.
The victory also marks the 22nd consecutive year with at least one win for Turner Motorsport. With yesterday’s results in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race the Turner Motorsport drivers stand (unofficially) second (Barletta, Foley) and fourth (Auberlen, Machavern) in Grand Sport driver points. The GTD victory sees Auberlen and Foley move to the top of GTD driver points (unofficially) with a seven point advantage.
“Today the Turner Motorsport team and the BMW M6 GT3 was the best in class,” said Will Turner. “I am delighted to give our friends at LIQI-MOLY another win and be a part of one more Bill Auberlen IMSA victory.”
Starting the race from the outside of the front row, Foley ran in the second position for his entire first stint. A signature strategy call by Don Salama saw Foley the first car to pit on lap 28 to look for a possible undercut before the remainder of the field would possibly pit when starting drivers would reach the 45-minute minimum drive time. Foley circulated back to P2 after the balance of the field made their first stop. He took over the lead on lap 50 with almost a 22-second lead, with one-hour-and-10-minutes remaining in the contest.
Anticipating the race’s first caution period after a competitor spun off the track on lap 69, Foley dove into the pits to hand off to Auberlen. Four laps later, the BMW ace was in a very familiar position – first in class. For the remaining hour he never put a wheel wrong to complete 111 laps and win by 2.712 seconds.
“The BMW M6 GT3 is back where it belongs – in the winner’s circle,” stated Auberlen. “We had some bad luck in the last race at Sebring with an alternator failure, but Robby and I are back in the points and we’re moving forward.”
“We had a great day today starting from the front row,” said an elated Foley. “I slotted in behind the No. 14 Lexus at the start. Don made a great call to pull us in first for new Michelin tires, so I quickly closed the small gap the leader was able to gain in traffic. I looked at a pass for the lead a few times, but they had a failure, so I found an easier way to the front. After that it was clicking off the laps until the hand off to Bill.”
The GTD class BMW M6 GT3 will be back in action on June 12 in the one-hour-and-forty-minute Chevrolet Sports Car Classic as part of the Detroit Grand Prix weekend.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
The team was met with mixed fortunes in Saturday’s two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race. Vin Barletta and Robby Foley finished a fine fifth to score the duo’s second top-five finish of the season (Daytona – P3). Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern, at the top of the GS driver points entering this weekend in the No. 95 BMW M4 GT4, suffered damage when hit by a competitor and only finished 49 of the race’s 75 laps.
Up next is the four-hour Tioga Downs 240 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, June 26 at 2:05 p.m.
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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.
