PressClub Global · Article.
Victory in Canada: Turner Motorsport claims first win for the new BMW M6 GT3 in North America.
Sun Jul 10 23:04:59 CEST 2016 Press Release
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First win in North America in the sixth race: at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) event at the “Canadian Tire Motorsport Park“ near Bowmanville (CA), the new BMW M6 GT3 for the first time proved that it’s a true winner outside of Europe. Bret Curtis (US) and BMW works driver Jens Klingmann (DE) secured the first GTD victory of the season with the BMW M6 GT3 for Turner Motorsport.
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Ingo Lehbrink
BMW Group
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Bowmanville (CA), 10th July 2016. First win in North America in
the sixth race: at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
(IWSC) event at the “Canadian Tire Motorsport Park“ near Bowmanville
(CA), the new BMW M6 GT3 for the first time proved that it’s a true
winner outside of Europe. Bret Curtis (US) and BMW works driver Jens
Klingmann (DE) secured the first GTD victory of the season with the
BMW M6 GT3 for Turner Motorsport. After 116 laps, Klingmann crossed
the line at the wheel of car number 96 as race winner. The pairing
had started from fourth on the grid. The number 97 sister car –
driven by Markus Palttala (FI) and Michael Marsal (US) – was forced
to retire early in the race.
In the GTLM class, BMW Team RLL once again fielded two BMW M6
GTLMs. Dirk Werner (DE) and Bill Auberlen (US) finished fourth
after 119 laps in the number 25 car, narrowly missing out on
another podium finish. Due to a technical problem in the first
stage of the race, the number 100 car with John Edwards (US) and
Lucas Luhr (DE) at the wheel had dropped to the back of the field.
The duo eventually finished ninth.
Klingmann and the Turner Motorsport squad, however, had every
reason to celebrate after their triumph in Canada. “I am really
proud to be part of the first victory for the BMW M6 GT3 in North
America and the first victory for me here. Although it is just one
race of a long season, I shall never forget this one. I am proud
of the Turner Motorsport team, of Bret and myself,” said Klingmann.
Curtis also was extremely satisfied with the team’s
performance at this classic track. He commented: “We had a good
qualifying session where I finally found a lot of confidence in
the car and the track. I just tried to carry it through to the
race and stay steady. I knew if I gave Jens the car in the top
five that we had a very good chance today. The race, to some
extent, fell to us, but the car was really solid. Jens did a great
job in his stint and the team did a good job. I am super happy.”
“It is awesome. Obviously we were cautiously optimistic about
winning with a brand new car. We brought the BMW Z4 GT3 to the US
and won with it. We gave it its first win in the US and now have
done the same with the BMW M6 GT3. That alone is a big
accomplishment for me, and it is also an accomplishment to win
with the M6 mid season, because normally with a new car there are
growing pains and teething problems, and we really haven’t had a
lot of that,” was the reaction of Team Principal Will Turner
following the biggest success of the BMW M6 GT3 in North America
to date.
The IWSC season continues on 23rd July 2016 at Lime Rock Park (US).