Nick Galante and Devin Jones in the #81 BimmerWorld 328i won the Street Tuner class in the four-hour BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona, the opening race of the 2018 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series. James Clay and Tyler Cooke finished second overall and second in Grand Sport in the #82 BimmerWorld M4 GT4, while Jason Hart, Toby Grahovec, and Mike Vess finished fourth in Grand Sport in the #72 Classic BMW/Vess Energy M4 GT4; it was the first North American race for the M4 GT4, BMW’s new customer car.
Galante and Jones dominated the Street Tuner race. Jones started the car from pole, stayed in front much of the way and handed off to Galante, the 2016 champion in the Street Tuner class, who motored away from the pack for the win. He finished ahead of a pair of Porsche Caymans. The three Mini JCWs had a difficult race, finishing multiple laps down. The best finishing Mini was the fourth place #37 car driven by Nate Norenberg and Derek Jones.
Clay quickly moved up from nineteenth on the grid, running second after an hour. He was always in the top ten, and often in the top five. Cooke had a strong finish, moving up to second late in the race. Jason Hart, who ran the final stint in the #72 M4 GT4, was also quick near the end; both drivers ran their cars’ fastest laps very late in the race. Spencer Pumpelly and Dillon Machevern won the race and the class in the #28 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
The CTSC series runs next at Sebring on March 16.—Brian S. Morgan
