BMW Privateer Drivers Race for Pirelli World Challenge Championships at Laguna Seca

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – Oct. 6, 2016 . . . BMW privateer drivers currently lead and will be racing to secure titles in two classes at this weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge season finale races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in Monterey, Calif.

Toby Grahovec, driving the Classic BMW Motorsports No. 26 BMW M235i Racing, has a commanding lead of 195 points in TC class driver points standings after 10 rounds of competition. The final two rounds will decide the championship this weekend. Classic BMW Motorsports teammate Gino Carini stands 16th in driver points, sharing the distinction with Grahovec of being the very first M235i Racing drivers in Pirelli World Challenge competition. Three additional M235i Racing cars are entered this weekend and BMW now represents 20% of the TC class entries in only its first season of competition.

In the Sprint X GT class, Michael Mills and BMW of North America driver Kuno Wittmer have raced the No. 46 Mills Racing BMW Z4 GT3 to the class lead after four of six rounds of competition in PWC’s endurance series. This weekend’s final two rounds will decide the Sportsman driver title for Mills. Wittmer, who has responsibilities for BMW this weekend in Germany, will have BMW of North America driver John Edwards stand in for him. Wittmer holds a commanding lead in the Professional driver points standings.

“We are extremely pleased with the success we’ve had during BMW’s return season in Pirelli World Challenge,” said Victor Leleu, BMW NA Motorsport Manager. “We’ve doubled the number of BMWs competing in PWC in our first season back in many years and look to increasing our support of BMW customer racing teams in Pirelli World Challenge in the future. There’s a lot at stake this weekend with the TC and Sprint X GT titles within reach for Toby and Michael respectively and I look forward to celebrating with them on Sunday.”

Live streaming of this weekend’s races is available at world-challenge.com and motortrendondemand.com.

BMW of North America Customer Racing

BMW of North America’s customer racing program supports privateer BMW drivers across North America with racing cars, engineering, parts and contingency. During 2016, BMWNA supported the M235i Racing, BMW Z4 GT3 and BMW M6 GT3 platforms. For more information, please contact Victor Leleu, BMW NA Motorsport Manager at victor.leleu@bmwna.com.

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 and X4 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 341 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 153 BMW motorcycle retailers, 126 MINI passenger car dealers, and 36 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

The BMW Group

With its three brands, BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services.  As a global company, the BMW Group operates 30 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2014, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.118 million cars and 123,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2013 was euro 7.91 billion on revenues amounting to approximately euro 76.06 billion. As of 31 December 2013, the BMW Group had a workforce of 110,351 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.

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Journalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwgroupusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.

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