Turner Motorsport

Last updated
Flag of the United States.svg Turner Motorsport
Turner M4 GT3 WGI22 (1).jpg
Founded1993;31 years ago (1993)
Team principal(s)Will Turner
Current series IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
Fanatec GT World Challenge
GT America
Current drivers Flag of the United States.svg Robby Foley
Flag of the United States.svg Patrick Gallagher
Flag of Germany.svg Jens Klingmann
Flag of the United States.svg Jake Walker
Flag of the United States.svg Robert Megennis
Flag of the United States.svg Francis Selldorff
Flag of the United States.svg Dillon Machavern
Flag of the United States.svg Justin Rothberg

Turner Motorsport (Also known as TMS Racing, Turner motorsport(s) or Turner racing) is a professional sports car racing team located in Newton, NH, and is the most prolific BMW race team in the world. As of May 2024 Turner motorsport has competed in over 557 professional sport car races with BMW.

Contents

Turner motorsport has exclusively raced BMW models professionally since 1998, including the BMW 3 Series, BMW M3 coupes, the M6, and starting in 2022 the M4GT3 and M4GT4 in IMSA and SRO GT World Challenge. Previously (1998-2004), the team was highly successful in the Speed World Challenge Touring Car series, winning 2 Championships (2003 and 2004) Since then, Turner Motorsport has won 7 more professional sportscar racing championships making it a total of 9.

History

2011 Rolex Sports Car, driven by Auberlen, Dalla Lana, and Hand GT94 Bill Auberlen Paul Dalla Lana Joey Hand 2011 Road America.jpg
2011 Rolex Sports Car, driven by Auberlen, Dalla Lana, and Hand

Turner Motorsport won the 2003 and 2004 Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championships, breaking an eight-year Honda / Acura domination of the series. After winning the championship the second consecutive time, Turner Motorsport left World Challenge to race in the 2005 Grand-Am Cup series. Turner Motorsport won both the 2006 Grand Am Cup GS (BMW E46 M3) and ST Driver and Team Championships (BMW E46 330i) and the 2007 Grand Am Cup ST Championship (BMW E46 330i). Turner Motorsport was the first team to win dual GS and ST driver and team championships in the same season. A fourth Grand Am Championship came in 2011 (BMW E92 M3) for driver Paul Dalla Lana. Dalla Lana was also honored by BMW with the 2011 BMW Sports Trophy, given to the most successful BMW privateer racer in the world.

2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship Car, driven by Foley, Machavern and Yelloly Turner Motorsport's BMW M6 GT3 at the 2020 Petit Le Mans.jpg
2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship Car, driven by Foley, Machavern and Yelloly

In 2014, Turner Motorsport switched from the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series to its successor, the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (a merger of Grand-Am and the American LeMans Series). Turner competed in the GT Daytona class (GTD) in the Championship with a GTD / GT3 BMW Z4, and took class wins at the Monterey Grand Prix at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, as well as the famous Six Hours of Watkins Glen, the first major endurance win for the team, and followed up with wins at Road America and Virginia. The strength of those four wins was enough to propel driver Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala to the Driver's Championship in 2014 and Turner to the Team Championship. [1]

In 2023 Turner Motorsport won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Team and Drivers Championship (Foley and Barletta) racing a BMW G82 M4GT4 along with the IMSA VP Racing Sportscar challenge Team and Drivers (Selldorff) Championship. This, coupled with a handful of podiums in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, would earn Turner Motorsport a BMW Sports Trophy in the team category. [2]

In 2024, the team competes with a BMW M4 GT3 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Two M4 GT3's in SRO's Fanatec GT World Challenge and GT America and a run a pair of BMW M4 GT4s in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

In May 2024, at the 2024 Motul Course de Monterey at Laguna Seca, Turner Motorsport made its record-extending 557th race start, and put Turner into the history books as the team with more BMW race starts than any other team in the world, overtaking the legendary Schnitzer Motorsport. [3] [4]

List of championships

2019 Michelin Pilot Challenge Car, driven by Barletta and Foley Turner Motorsport's BMW M6 GT3 at the 2019 Petit Le Mans.jpg
2019 Michelin Pilot Challenge Car, driven by Barletta and Foley

2003 Speed World Challenge Driver
2004 Speed World Challenge Driver
2006 Grand-Am Cup ST Driver
2006 Grand-Am Cup Team
2006 Grand-Am Cup GS Driver
2007 Grand-Am Cup ST Driver
2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Driver
2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Team
2014 Tudor United SportsCar GT-Daytona Driver
2014 Tudor United SportsCar GT-Daytona Team
2023 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS Driver
2023 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS Team
2023 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge GSX Driver
2023 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge GSX Team

Past drivers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Auberlen</span> American factory race car driver

William Anthony Auberlen is an American factory race car driver known for his affiliation with BMW, driving cars made and run by the famous German marque for a number of years. Auberlen currently competes for Turner Motorsport in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge. He is the winningest driver in IMSA history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riley Technologies</span> American auto racing constructor and team

Riley Technologies LLC is an American auto racing constructor and team specializing in the design and manufacture of complete race cars, as well as prototype development for racing and manufacturing applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Heylen</span> Belgian racing driver (born 1980)

Jan Heylen is a championship-winning Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida.

BMW M Motorsport is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sports car racing, motorcycle racing.

Multimatic Motorsports is the competition arm of Multimatic Special Vehicle Operations. Founded in 1992, the team has competed in the Firestone Firehawk Series, Motorola Cup, IMSA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am Cup, Rolex Sports Car Series, Michelin Pilot Challenge, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Multimatic Motorsports is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Eversley</span> American race car driver

Ryan A. Eversley is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently races the No. 07 Toyota GR GT4 Supra Evo for Precision Racing L.A. in the Pirelli GT4 America series as well as serving as Head of Driver and Racing Business Development for them and their sister team L.A. Honda World Racing. He is affectionately referred to as "The People's Champ," due to his fan interactions. From 2015 to 2023, Eversley was a Honda factory driver who primarily raced in sports car racing championships such as the Michelin Pilot Challenge and Pirelli World Challenge. He won the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge TCR championship. In his spare time Ryan also works as an American developer, Ryan learned coding at a very young age.

The 2013 American Le Mans Series was the fifteenth and final season of the International Motor Sports Association GT Championship being labeled as the American Le Mans Series, before merging up with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014.

Bimmerworld Racing is a sports car racing team and supplier of racing, performance, and replacement parts based in Dublin, Virginia, USA. The company focuses on the BMW brand of automobiles with a strong emphasis on road racing. The team first began racing professionally in the sprint-format SCCA World Challenge series before switching to the endurance-based IMSA/Grand-Am Sports Car Challenge. The team has also diversified into other forms of motorsport including NASA, BMW CCA Club Racing, SCCA, SpecE30, The One Lap of America, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, ChampCar, VLN, and PowerWheels Attack. The team and parts company is independently owned by founder James Clay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Johnson (racing driver)</span> American racing driver

William Ryan Johnson is an American professional sports car and stock car racing driver. He is the 2016 IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS champion. He currently competes part-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship, driving for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing UK in the No. 66 Ford GT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMW Z4 GTE</span> Grand touring race car

The BMW Z4 GTE is a racing car which competed in the sports car races such as the American Le Mans Series, Tudor United SportsCar Championship and European Le Mans Series. It competed from 2013 to 2015 and was replaced in 2016 by the M6 GTLM.

Ashley Lynn Freiberg is an American racing driver who has competed in open-wheel, sports car and endurance racing. She became the first woman to win a Skip Barber Racing championship title in 2010, and the first female to claim outright race victories in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge and the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Robby Foley is an American racing driver who currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Madison Snow is an American race car driver who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In 2018 he became the only second driver in IMSA history to win two championships in the same year, winning both the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona (GTD) class as well as the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North American Pro class. In 2024 he became a factory BMW M Motorsport works driver.

Russell Ward is an American racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for HTP Winward Motorsport. Ward also serves as Winward Racing's team principal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DXDT Racing</span> American racing team

DXDT Racing is a professional sports car team based in Statesville, North Carolina, founded by competitive off-shore sailor and businessman David Askew in 2014. With an early history in IMSA's Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, the team now primarily races in SRO America's GT World Challenge America, continuing a long term run as a Mercedes AMG Customer Racing team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Gottsacker</span> American racing driver

Harry Gottsacker is an American racing driver who currently competes for Bryan Herta Autosport in the TCR class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Northeast Grand Prix</span> 2022 edition of motor race

The 2022 Northeast Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, on July 16, 2022. This race was the ninth round of the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the 2022 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

The 2023 IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge was the inaugural season of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. The season began on January 20 at Daytona International Speedway and concluded on October 14 at Road Atlanta.

The 2023 Michelin Pilot Challenge was the twenty-fourth season of the IMSA SportsCar Challenge and the tenth season organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The season began on January 26 at Daytona International Speedway and concludes on October 14 at Road Atlanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevan McAleer</span> British racing driver

Stevan Gordon McAleer is a British racing driver who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, GT World Challenge Europe, and Michelin Pilot Challenge.

References

  1. Morgan, Brian (December 2014). "Down to the Wire". Roundel . 46 (12): 76. ISSN   0889-3225.
  2. Dagys, John (2023-12-04). "Turner Motorsport Wins BMW M Sports Trophy – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  3. Release, Press (2 May 2024). "Turner Motorsport to Set a Record 557 Race Starts With BMW at Laguna Seca IMSA Event". BMW Group - Press. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  4. O’Connell, RJ (9 May 2024). "Will Turner, On 557 Races With BMW, & Counting". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 9 May 2024.