BMW Victories in Daytona Prototype, GT and Street Tuner Highlight First Half of 2012 Grand-Am Season
25.06.2012
Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – June 26, 2012…With seven races of the 13 race 2102 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series complete, BMW Power is back on top of the Daytona Prototype class. It is familiar territory for 2010 and 2011 class champion Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, but this season has been very different than the domination shown in previous years where the duo won 14 of 24 races.
A myriad of rules changes combined with new designs introduced by the competition had held the No. 01 BMW Riley to four podium finishes (two-seconds, two-thirds) in the first six races of the year, but the team broke through at the Road America 250 on June 23rd for their first victory of the year. Pruett and Rojas now hold a five point lead in the driver point standings and CGRFS leads the team points by an equal amount.
CGRFS recently announced the entry of a second BMW Powered Daytona Prototype for the inaugural Grand-Am race at the storied Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27th. The No. 02 Chevron sponsored entry will be driven by 2000 Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya and 2012 Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner Jamie McMurray.
GT Class
In Rolex GT competition, Turner Motorsport has upheld BMW honors in fine style. Anchored by 2011 BMW Sport Trophy winner Paul Dalla Lana and BMW of North America driver Bill Auberlen, the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 has put together an impressive six race streak that has included one victory, one second and four top-five finishes. Dalla Lana currently stands fourth in GT driver points.
Street Tuner Class
With four races remaining in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series BMW leads the Manufacturer point standings in the Street Tuner (ST) class behind the efforts of BimmerWorld Racing, Burton Racing and RRT Racing. These privateer teams have combined wins at Barber Motorsports Park and Homestead-Miami Speedway and podium finishes at the season-opening BMW Performance 200 at the Daytona International Speedway, New Jersey Motorsports Park and the most recent round at Road America with their 1 and 3 Series BMWs.
Fall-Line Motorsports and Turner Motorsport field five BMW M3s in the Grand Sport (GS) class. The 2010 and 2011 GS class team champions have been denied the top step of the podium so far this season, but have combined for two second place finishes, two third place finishes and five top-five finishes.
The 2012 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series continue this weekend with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen and the Continental Tire 150 at Watkins Glen International Raceway.
Live timing and scoring from practice, qualifying and both races can be found on grand-am.com. The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen will be televised live on SPEED television beginning at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, July 1. The Continental Tire 150 at the Glen takes the green flag a 3:00 p.m. Saturday, June 30 and will be televised on SPEED television on July 8 at 12:00 p.m. ET.
