Laguna Seca. Turner Motorsport celebrated second place within the GTD class on the fourth race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca (USA), concluding its milestone weekend on the rostrum. The crew, led by Will Turner, accomplished its 557th race in a BMW automobile – greater than another BMW M Motorsport buyer crew. BMW M Team RLL confirmed good tempo in qualifying with the 2 BMW M Hybrid V8s however fell again within the race after incidents and missed the rostrum .
Philipp Eng (AUT) began the race within the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 from third place after a powerful qualifying session on Saturday. He held that place till the motive force change to Jesse Krohn (FIN). However, a slip within the ultimate hour of the race resulted in a broken rear that needed to be modified within the pits. Krohn completed the race in ninth place within the GTP class. Connor De Phillippi (USA) and Nick Yelloly (GBR) began within the sister automobile from fifth place and completed in seventh after shedding time throughout a pit cease and in addition slipping off the monitor.
Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher (each USA) took the lead within the GTD class of their #557 BMW M4 GT3 after the primary yellow part of the race from the second begin place and had victory in sight. However, a couple of laps earlier than the top, there was an unlucky contact with a lapping GTP automobile which precipitated Foley to fall from first to second place. In the GTD PRO class, Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers (each USA) within the #1 BMW M4 GT3 from Paul Miller Racing completed in seventh place.
Comments after the race:
Connor De Phillippi (#25 BMW M Hybrid V8, seventh place): “It was a tough race. We had a good car this weekend, but we lost too much time and positions, especially in direct duels and when lapping the GTD cars. We still need to work on the drivability of the car and we generally need to do a better job with the race procedures. In this tight field, it’s about tenths of a second, so we can’t afford any mistakes. We will make another attempt at the podium in Detroit.”
Philipp Eng (#24 BMW M Hybrid V8, ninth place): “The positive is that we showed good pace throughout the weekend. We were in the top-three in every session. The car also felt very good in my first stint. It’s very disappointing that we then fell so far back. We need to analyse exactly how this could have happened. At one point, we were ahead of the winning car. We will attack again in the next race.”
Robby Foley (#557 BMW M4 GT3, 2nd place GTD class): “It was a fantastic day – until just before the end of the race. Unfortunately, there was obviously a misunderstanding when lapping with a prototype. From my point of view, he pushed me off the track as I wanted to turn into the corner but I need to take a closer look at the footage. Second place is still a great result, and we take a lot of important points with us. However, when you’re so close to victory, it still leaves a bitter taste.”