Björn Lellmann, Head of Customer Racing at BMW M Motorsport:
“In recent weeks, GT racing series around the world have been deciding their titles. Now it’s time to reap the rewards for the hard work put in throughout the season. Our BMW M Motorsport teams and drivers in North America have done this in an incredibly impressive fashion. A huge congratulations and sincere compliments to Random Vandals Racing, Turner Motorsport, and BimmerWorld Racing, who achieved a clean sweep in the SRO series with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO and BMW M4 GT4 EVO, winning all available titles. The record in the GT World Challenge America, GT America, and GT4 America is truly out of this world! I’m very sorry for BMW Italia Ceccato Racing that, despite an outstanding season, they just missed out on further titles. The final race was a bitter one. Nevertheless, the team and drivers once again proved what fantastic ambassadors they are for our brand in Italy.”
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Italian GT Championship (25.-26.10.): BMW Italia Ceccato Racing narrowly misses title hat-trick.
BMW Italia Ceccato Racing and BMW M works driver Jens Klingmann (GER) narrowly missed out on their third consecutive title in the Italian GT Championship Sprint. Despite a victory and a third-place finish at the season finale at Monza (ITA), Klingmann and his works driver teammate Jesse Krohn (FIN) had to settle for second place overall. Driving the #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, the duo claimed three wins and three additional podiums in eight races. After a dramatic finale, they fell just three points short of the championship lead. Klingmann and the team had won the Sprint title in the previous two seasons.
“You can’t win the title every year, but I’m very proud of what we achieved as a team because we truly made the most of our opportunities,” said Klingmann. “With our victory in Saturday’s race, we were back in the title fight, but unfortunately, third place on Sunday wasn’t quite enough. I think we deserved it too, but this time Lamborghini had the upper hand. Congratulations to the crew of car #63. We’ll be back to fight again next year.” Krohn added: “Even though the end of the season feels bittersweet, I really enjoyed racing in Italy again. I think we gave everything we could in the title fight. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough. My overall season has been extremely positive – I’ve taken wins and podiums everywhere I raced, and above all, I won the 24h Nürburgring. I’m very happy with this year.”
The title race in the Pro-Am category also remained thrilling until the final event. William Alatalo (FIN) and Leonardo Caglioni (ITA) entered the last race as championship leaders but were forced to retire after an unavoidable collision with their #2 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, dropping to third in the final standings.
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GT World Challenge America (16.-18.10.): Title wins for the BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
The Indianapolis 8 Hour just over a week ago was not only the season finale of the Intercontinental GT Challenge – where Team WRT triumphed and Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) secured the drivers’ title – it also marked the conclusion of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS. BMW M Motorsport teams continued their incredible run of success there with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. The title in the Pro category went to BMW M works driver Connor De Phillippi and his Random Vandals Racing teammate Kenton Koch (both USA). “I’m really proud to be part of this team,” said Koch. “Working with Connor all season has been amazing. We came in with things to learn, but we’ve shown incredible performances throughout the year. I’m proud of everyone and excited for what’s to come.” De Phillippi added: “It’s been an amazing effort from the entire team. I’m so proud of this group. This championship is my first with BMW, and that makes it even more meaningful. Hopefully it’s just the start of many more together.”
In the Pro-Am category, BMW M works driver Robby Foley and his young Turner Motorsport teammate Justin Rothberg (both USA) celebrated another title win, just like last year. “Justin has made incredible progress this season, he’s on a great trajectory,” said Foley. “Our second year working together has been awesome; we were faster, more consistent, and racked up more wins. Huge thanks to Turner Motorsport, Laticrete, all our partners, and every member of this incredible team.” Rothberg added: “The stars really aligned for us. Indy came through again. Robby and I are champions once more, and it feels fantastic.”
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GT4/GT America (16.-19.10): BMW M Motorsport teams triumph across the board.
The celebrations among the BMW M Motorsport teams knew no bounds in both GT4 America and GT America. At the GT4 America Indianapolis (USA) season finale, all three class titles went to crews running the BMW M4 GT4 EVO. In the Silver class, Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm (both USA) from Random Vandals Racing took the championship crown. Hats off to the whole Random Vandals Racing team this year. They’ve given us a rocketship every single race, I think we’ve consistently been one of the fastest BMWs this whole season,” said Boehm. “I think it just goes into the preparation that they do behind the scenes. What a day!” Koch pulled off the remarkable feat of winning championships with both BMW M Motorsport GT cars. Random Vandals Racing also dominated thePro-Am category, where Josh Green and Sam Craven (both USA) secured the title in the #94 BMW M4 GT4 EVO. “It’s been an amazing season for Josh and me,” said Craven. “It was our first time in SRO, and Random Vandals Racing did an incredible job. The whole team was just awesome, awesome, awesome!”
In the Am class, there was also no getting past the BMW M4 GT4 EVO. James Clay and Charlie Postins (both USA) from the BimmerWorld Racing team celebrated the championship victory. “I totally wanted it,” said Clay. “But I was reminded of patience that I rarely show, but I showed it today. That’s what you have to do to win the championship. It was a great battle. Thank you guys for all the memories made over the last four seasons.”
In GT America, Justin Rothberg completed his double title success with Turner Motorsport in the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, securing both championships for himself and the team. This brought team principal Will Turner’s squad their 11th and 12th titles in 28 years of racing – exclusively with BMW M Motorsport cars. “Coming into this race, I was hopeful that we’d win another championship, but walking away with two is surreal,” said Turner. “I knew the team could do it, and things just went our way. I’m super excited and ready to shoot for it again next year. Every championship that we’ve had over the years has been a little bit different, and they’re all special in different ways. Some are harder than others, and this one was certainly difficult, but the effort paid off.”