Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – Aug. 28, 2022 . . . The No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 finished fifth in the GTD PRO class in today’s two-hour-and-forty-minute Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, the result not indicative of the team displaying a much more competitive day than shown in the last few rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Connor De Phillippi and John Edwards completed 86 laps around the beautiful 3.27-mile, 18-turn VIRginia International Raceway, finishing 54 seconds behind the class winning Porsche 911 GT3R. Ultimately, a costly delay for a bad wheel nut on the final pit stop cost valuable seconds that extinguished a chance at the podium. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 finished third in the GTD class to put fine finish on their class GTD Sprint Cup Championship title. The result was the fifth podium of the season for Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow. To date, the duo has scored two wins (Long Beach and Lime Rock Park), one second (Mid-Ohio), and two thirds (Detroit and VIR). Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley finished seventh in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Connor De Phillippi, Driver No. 25 BMW M Team RLL (P5): “The start of the race was relatively clean and uneventful. I began to struggle with the balance, but it seemed to improve as the laps progressed. John got in and had a great first stint, so things were looking good. We seemed to lose the balance again, so the day did not end as well as it began.” John Edwards, Driver No. 25 BMW M Team RLL (P5): “Ultimately, we did not have enough pace over an entire stint. In certain phases, we were running competitively. We may not have had enough to win, but it looked like a podium was possible. The wheel nut issue during my last stop ended any hope of that.” Yesterday, the three BMW M4 GT4 cars in the two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race scored top-10 finishes with fifth, sixth, and ninth- place results. Vin Barletta and Robby Foley finished fifth in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW. Dropping from the lead in the closing minutes for fuel, Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern finished sixth in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW. The No. 43 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M4 GT4, of Gregory Liefooghe and Sean Quinlan, finished ninth. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship closes with the MOTUL Petit Le Mans on Oct. 1, at Michelin Road Atlanta. The race will be streamed live on Peacock and broadcast on a mixture of NBC (12:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET) and USA (7:00 – 10:30 p.m. ET). IMSA Radio also provides a flag-to-flag broadcast. 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 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and manufactures the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 350 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers,146 BMW motorcycle retailers, 105 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 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. Rahal Letterman Lanigan RacingBMW’s partner, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, based in Indianapolis, Indiana and co-owned by three-time INDYCAR Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former CBS Late Show host David Letterman and Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan, has been competing for over three decades. Prior to the start of their 31st season of competition in 2022, the team had compiled 54 victories, 66 poles, 222 podium finishes, three series championships (1992, 2010, 2011), claimed two Indianapolis 500 victories (Buddy Rice in 2004, Takuma Sato in 2020) and two Rolex 24 at Daytona victories. In 2009 the team joined BMW of North America to campaign the new BMW M3 in the American Le Mans Series. The following year the team won both the Manufacturer and Team Championships in the GT category and swept all three GT titles – Manufacturer, Team, and Driver – in 2011. In 2012, the team finished second in the Team Championship and third in the Manufacturer Championship and in 2013, the team finished second in the Driver, Team, and Manufacturer Championship. From 2014 to 2021, BMW Team RLL competed in the GTLM class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a two-car program and brought their total to 22 wins – including the 2019 and 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance races, 28 poles and 94 podium finishes prior to the start of the 2022 season. The team earned second-place finishes in the Manufacturer, Team, and Driver championships in 2015 and 2017 and were the 2020 Michelin North American Endurance Champions. For 2022, BMW M Team RLL will compete in the GTD Pro class while simultaneously ramping up for a two-car program in the much-anticipated LMDh class of IMSA for 2023. Journalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwusanews.com and www.press.bmwgroup.com/usa.
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