BMW Drivers Finish 2013 GRAND-AM Season at Lime Rock Park; Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Wins DP Team Title; BMW Sweeps Continental Street Tuner Championships

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – Oct. 2, 2013 . . . The GRAND-AM Championship Weekend presented by BMW finished the 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex and Continental Series on a high note with beautiful weather and fabulous competition in each of the three races at Lime Rock Park.

BMW drivers challenged for championships in Rolex Daytona Prototype and Continental Street Tuner classes. After all the checkered flags had flown, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates took a fourth consecutive Rolex Series DP Team title with BMW Power and, with a third place finish in Saturday’s 2.75-hour race by the No. 01 Telcel/TELMEX BMW Riley, drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas finished second in driver points. BMW finished second in DP Manufacturer points.

The No. 42 Team Sahlen BMW Riley of Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnamaker finished fourth after starting from the team’s first pole. The No. 2 Starworks with Alex Popow BMW Riley of Ryan Dalizel and Alex Popow finished seventh.

In the GT class, Tom Kimber-Smith and Michael Marsal drove the No. 93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 to a fifth place finish.  Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana retired after only two laps in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport M3 following an incident at the start of the race.

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge –

Eight BMWs took the green flag in Friday afternoon’s 2.5-hour Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner race and when the checkered flag flew five of them among three teams finished in the top-10 to give BMW a sweep of the Manufacturer, Team and Driver championships. This was the second consecutive ST Manufacturer’s title for BMW. Burton Racing took the team title and, with a fifth place finish in the No. 23 Burton Racing 128i, drivers Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra won the driver’s championship.

The top-finishing BMW in the race was the No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i of Terry Cooke and Gregory Liefooghe. Leading 73 laps of the 141 lap contest, the duo ultimately finished second. Cooke and Liefooghe finished third in driver points. The No. 80 BimmerWorld Racing 328i of Connor Bloum and Greg Strelzoff finished third to make it two BMWs on the podium. Jesse Combs and Jeff Mosing finished ninth in the No. 56 RACE EPIC/Murillo Racing 328i and fourth in driver points. The No. 84 BimmerWorld Racing 328i of James Clay and John Capestro-DuBets finished tenth to make it five BMW top-10 finishes. BimmerWorld Racing drivers Daniel Rogers and Seth Thomas finished 26th in the No. 82 328i, but ended the season sixth in the driver standings.

In Saturdays’ Grand Sport race, Trent Hindman started the No. 48 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 he shares with Charles Espenlaub from his first CTSCC pole. At the end of 2.5-hours they were the top-finishing BMW with a fifth place finish. Fall-Line teammates Mark Boden and Bryan Sellers finished ninth in the No. 46 M3. The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 of Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana finished tenth.

“BMW has enjoyed a great amount of success in the GRAND-AM series over the years and this past season was no exception,” said Gordon McDonnell, BMWNA Motorsport Manager. “Congratulations to Chip Ganassi Racing for winning the Daytona Prototype Team Championship and North American Endurance Championship and to Burton Racing for winning the team and driver’s championship in Street Tuner. We look forward to continuing the success in the United SportsCar Championship next year.”

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner race will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 3 p.m. ET. The Grand Sport race broadcast will follow at 5 p.m. ET.

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 Sports Activity Coupes.  The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 119 MINI passenger car dealers, and 34 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.

Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:  www.bmwgroupna.com

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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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