Munich. After ten years as a BMW M works driver, John Edwards (USA) is ending his professional racing career. BMW M Motorsport thanks him for the excellent collaboration and fondly remembers their shared successes. The highlight was the GTLM class victory at the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona (USA) with the BMW M8 GTE.
“John Edwards competed in his first full season for BMW M Team RLL in North America in 2014 and is one of the longest-serving BMW M works drivers. On behalf of BMW M Motorsport, I would like to thank him for his long loyalty and excellent collaboration,” said Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos. “Although it was unfortunately before my time, the 2020 IMSA season stands out from a whole series of beautiful shared memories with the victory at Daytona and the title win in the Endurance Cup. I wish John Edwards all the best for his professional and personal future! We will certainly stay in good contact.”
Edwards has announced that he wants to turn his previous hobby of flying planes into a profession next year. He also wants to spend more time with his family. That was also the reason why he was replaced by Neil Verhagen (USA) as Samantha Tan’s (CAN) teammate in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS during the past season.
The collaboration between Edwards and BMW M Motorsport began in 2013 with individual race appearances in the BMW Z4 GTE in the IMSA series. Together with Dirk Müller (GER), the first victory at Lime Rock Park (USA) was not long in coming. Accordingly, Edwards was promoted to full-time IMSA and BMW M works driver in 2014. Throughout his career, he drove numerous generations of BMW M Motorsport race cars, including the BMW Z4 GTE, BMW M6 GT3, BMW M8 GTE, and BMW M4 GT3. In 2020, he celebrated the GTLM class victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona alongside Jesse Krohn (FIN), Augusto Farfus (BRA), and Chaz Mostert (AUS), as well as the GTLM title in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup with Krohn. Edwards also regularly competed for BMW M Motorsport at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring (GER) from 2015 onwards.