The BMW Team RLL M6 GTLMs and the Turner Motorsport M6 GT3s made impressive debuts at the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship Series "Roar Before The 24" testing sessions in early January.
While the Roar is about testing and sorting, rather than setting quick times, the M6s were clearly competitive. Lucas Luhr set the fastest GTLM lap of the weekend in the #100 M6 GTLM that he shared with John Edwards, Kuno Wittmer, and John Edwards, and the #97 Turner Motorsport M6 GT3 driven by Bret Curtis, Jens Klingmann, Ashley Freiberg, and Marco Wittmann finished fourth in the GTD class in the final practice session of the weekend.
The Rahal M6 GTLMs ran in bare carbon fiber at the Roar. Their liveries for the season will be revealed on the Rolex 24 weekend later this month. The #100 car commemorates the 100th anniversary of BMW. The second car will wear the #25, the number of one of the 3.0CSLs that BMW Motorsport ran when it launched its racing program in the US in 1975. At the Roar car #25 was driven by Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner, who will drive it for the entire season, along with DTM racers Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler, who will join the team at the Rolex 24. Turner’s second car, the #96 M6 GT3, was driven by Michael Marsal, Markus Palttala, Maxime Martin, and Jesse Krohn.
Speaking of the M6 GTLM, Team RLL principal Bobby Rahal said “It is an impressive car. Of course it is still new for us and for BMW, but what we see is that with all its electronics and the turbocharger it is more sophisticated and complex than the BMW Z4 GTLM. During testing it’s not about lap times, and we cannot say where we are compared to our competitors. For me it’s more about what the drivers say when they get out of the car, and they’re all very positive. We get to know the car better and better with each test session, and I’m sure we will be prepared come race day here in Daytona.”
BimmerWorld ran two F30 328s in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series tests, with team owner James Clay and Tyler Cooke in one car and two drivers who are new to the team, BMW CCA Club Racer Jerry Kaufman and pro racer and driving instructor Kyle Tilley, in the other. There were two Mini USA JCW Minis on hand, with Derek Jones, Mark Pombo, Mat Pombo James Vance, Ramin Abdolvahabi and Ashley Freiberg sharing driving duties. Porsche Caymans dominated the class at the Roar.
Ashley Freiberg, who is co-driving a Turner M6 GT3 in the WeatherTech Series North American Endurance Championship series (which includes the Rolex 24, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Sahlen Six Hours of Watkins Glen, and the Petit Le Mans race) has not indicated that she will run with the Mini CTSC team during the season. But she will co-drive one of the Starworks Prototype Challenge cars in the WeatherTech series in the shorter races, when she will not be racing for Turner.
There was no BMW presence in the CTSC Grand Sport class; no one is building an M4, and no M3s were entered. Fall-Line, which has campaigned M3s for a number of years, has not announced plans for 2016.
Results for both the WTSC and CTSC series are posted on the IMSA website .—Brian S. Morgan
