Top-five result for BMW M Team WRT at Long Beach – Turner Motorsport on the podium with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Long Beach. Dries Vanthoor (BEL) and Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) finished the first sprint race of the season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA Series) in the BMW M Team WRT #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 in fifth place. The #25 sister car started from second position after a strong qualifying by Marco Wittmann (GER), but Philipp Eng (AUT) dropped a long way back during his stint following a collision and subsequent repairs. Turner Motorsport celebrated a major success with second place for Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher (both USA) in the #96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Comments after the race:

Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport): “Fifth place is not what we had hoped for. The starting position for car #25 was very good after Marco Wittmann’s strong qualifying, but unfortunately, due to the contact and subsequent repairs, we couldn’t convert it into a corresponding race result. Car #24 didn’t have an ideal qualifying, but at least managed to gain a position in the race. Fifth place means important points for the championship, but we wanted more. Turner Motorsport gave a strong performance in the GTD class and rightly gets to celebrate on the podium.”

Vincent Vosse (Team Principal BMW M Team WRT): “The points for fifth place with our car #24 are important, especially as we are competing in a long championship season, but of course, we had hoped for more. Unfortunately, the collision involving car #25 made our race much more difficult. In the end, fifth place is okay, but nothing more. We accept the result and focus on Laguna Seca.”

Dries Vanthoor (#24 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team WRT, 5^th place GTP): “Of course, it’s not the result we had envisioned. We weren't completely sorted at the start of the weekend, which also put us behind in qualifying. In the race, I tried to preserve the car and the tyres so that Sheldon could push hard towards the end. That worked well, but we struggle in direct fights with other cars. We collected important points, but now we need to take a step forward.”

Marco Wittmann (#25 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team WRT, 11^th place GTP): “We got off to a good start this weekend and, with a front-row starting position, had a great chance to fight for the podium. However, those opportunities vanished with the accident – luck just wasn’t on our side today. So now we have to look ahead. As a team, we’ve made progress in various areas. We can carry this positive trend into the next race at Laguna Seca, bounce back, and earn the reward we deserve."

Robby Foley (#96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Turner Motorsport, 2^nd place GTD): “It was a fantastic day for us at Long Beach. Patrick had an excellent first stint and stayed out of trouble. After that, we were able to take advantage of a few opportunities during the restarts to pass competitors and then defend second place. We achieved a great result and earned important points for our team. Now we need to carry this momentum to Laguna Seca and try to pick up right where we left off.”