Daytona 24 Hours: MOTUL BMW M4 GT3s ranks 7th and 9th

At the 2022 Daytona 24 Hours, the MOTUL BMW M4 GT3 will compete in the GTD-PRO class. Facing tough competition, the BMW M4 GT3 race cars finished seventh and ninth in their first major race. At the beginning of the race, both cars had problems with their underbodies. The rear diffuser needs to work several times, which costs a lot of time. This resulted in both cars falling far behind the field. Although the Turner Motorsport race cars were in the top five at one point, they had to retire due to an incident during the night.

BMW M Motorsport director Mike Krack explained that the race was difficult. The team wanted to keep the number of mistakes to a minimum to ensure that all BMW M4 GT3s made it through the race without incident. Unfortunately, they did not manage to achieve this goal. After contact with another car, the Turner Motorsport GTD car was unable to finish the race. Both BMW M Team RLL cars had problems, finishing seventh and ninth respectively. The fact that they drove so many test kilometres in the development phase showed that a test run in race conditions presents additional challenges for the team’s performance.

Despite their best efforts, the team was unable to keep up with the leaders at any point during the race. They’re now analysing all the data to ensure that we are back on top of the podium at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Team Pfaff Motorsports did a great job in the opening race of the GTD-PRO class and won in commanding fashion. A top finish would have been a fitting parting gift for Krack’s last race with BMW M Motorsport. The #25 MOTUL BMW M4 GT3 is driven by John Edwards, Connor De Phillippi, Augusto Farfus and Jesse Krohn, all from the United States (FIN). After 698 laps they finished seventh in their class. There were two other cars in the class GTD-PRO, driven by Austrians Philipp Eng, Sheldon van der Linde, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly.

The #96 BMW M4 GT3 from Turner Motorsport started at the back of the field in the GTD class. It made it back into the top five after a couple of hours. However, the car was damaged in a night-time collision and had to be parked in the garage. Turner Motorsport and BMW M Team RLL now have around six weeks until the second major event of the year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Sebring (USA). In the GTD division, Paul Miller Racing will compete with a BMW M4 GT3.

On Friday, the BMW M Endurance Challenge took place in Germany with the Team RS1 taking the victory. Turner Motorsport with its two BMW M4 GT4s also impressed and finished on the podium. Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern (both from the United States) finished third and fourth respectively. Robby Foley, Michael Dinan and Vincent Barletta (all from the USA) finished fifth and sixth.