BMW competitors ran in test sessions for both the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series at Daytona International Speedway from Friday, January 9th through Sunday January 11. BMW highlights of the weekend by class follow.
In the Prototype class Rubens Barrichello turned in the fastest time on Sunday in the #7 Starworks Riley-BMW. Former F1 star Barrichello will share the car at Daytona with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Mayer, Brendon Hartley, and Tor Graves. A second Riley-BMW prototype, the Highway to Help entry driven by Jim Pace, Byron DeFoor, David Hinton, and Dorsey Schroeder, was withdrawn after DeFoor rolled the car when it experienced a mechanical problem on Saturday.
BMW Team RLL brought out its two new GTLM Z4s. To commemorate BMW Motorsport’s fortieth year of competition in the US, the cars are running numbers 24 and 25, the numbers used by the 3.0 CSL that won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1975 and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1976. Z4 #24 will be shared by John Edwards and Lucas Luhr over the course of the season. Graham Rahal and Jens Klingmann will join Edwards and Luhr at Daytona. Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner will share #25, with Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler along for the ride in the Rolex 24. The Team RLL Z4s turned competitive times at the Roar; Werner ran the fastest time in session four on Saturday. The fastest GTLM car across all eight sessions was the Porsche driven by Jorg Bergmeister, Eric Bamber, and Frédéric Makowiecki
Turner Motorsport made an unexpected appearance on the last day with its just-delivered GTD class Z4. Marcus Palttala ran the fastest GTD time in the car in the last session of the on-and-off rainy day.
Combined times for all TUSC sessions appear here.
In CTSCC, BimmerWorld ran a pair of F30 328s along with its new Porsche Caymans, run as a separate team under the Next Level European banner. Burton Racing ran a 128i for Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra. Across six sessions the fastest car in ST was the Murillo Racing Cayman driven by Jeff Mosing, Eric Foss, and Justin Piscitell. One of the Next Level Caymans driven by Greg Liefooghe and Eric Zimmerman was second quickest. The BimmerWorld F30 driven by Tyler Cooke and Andrie Hartanto was fourth. Combined times for all CTSCC sessions appear here.
The CTSCC season opener will run at Daytona on January 23, followed by the TUSC Rolex 24 on January 24 and 25.—Brian S. Morgan
