Turner Motorsport started the 2012 Grand-Am season with a strong double top-10 finish in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge BMW Performance 200 on Friday, January 27. Despite a good start, the defending CTSCC Grand Sport champions had a difficult day at the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona with a 16th place finish in the GT class.

“The Rolex 24 at Daytona proved again why it is one of the toughest endurance races in the world,” said Will Turner. “We lost the No. 94 early so we then focused our efforts on the 93 car and although we never had the outright pace of the competition, we made sure we pushed hard. I want to thank BMW Motorsport for placing Dirk (Mueller), Dirk (Werner) and Joerg (Mueller) with Turner Motorsport for the race. On the bright side, a sixth and seventh place finish in the BMW Performance 200 is a very good start to our CTSCC title defense.”

Turner continued, “While results are the usual headline of any race weekend I believe the best news for Turner Motorsport was how we showcased the abilities of our team despite the difficulties. Shawn (Passen) put together a group that never gave up and Don (Salama) kept our strategy on target through every change the race threw at us.”

BMW Performance 200 –
Starting well back in the field, due to a qualifying session interrupted by black flags, the team placed both cars in the top-10 at the end of the two-and-one-half-hour race. Michael Marsal and Boris Said, in the No. 97 M3, finished sixth and Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana, in the No. 96 M3, finished seventh. Marsal and Dalla Lana started the race, handing off to Said and Auberlen to finish. The longtime Turner Motorsport drivers (under no team orders) had a spirited battle in the closing stages of the race with Said just catching Auberlen at the checkered flag.

Results
No. 97 M3 Marsal, Said F – P6
No. 96 M3 Auberlen, Dalla Lana F – P7

Rolex 24 at Daytona –
Having to retire the No. 94 M3 after only 86 laps with a driveline failure the team focused its attention on the No. 93 for the remainder of the 24 hour contest. Bad luck forced the team to pit the car for quick repairs a number of times during the race ultimately dropping the car back 36 laps to the leaders and a 16th place finish. Naming season long drivers Auberlen and Dalla Lana to both cars allowed the duo to drive the No. 93 machine and thus score valuable points.

Results
No. 93 M3 Auberlen, Dalla Lana, Marsal, Mueller, Werner F – P16
No. 94 M3 Auberlen, Dalla Lana, Johnson, Mueller, Said F – P43

The BMW Performance 200 at Daytona will be televised on SPEED television on Feb. 4 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Round two of the 2012 Grand-Am season will be held at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Alabama on March 30 – 31.

About Turner Motorsport
Turner Motorsport is a leading BMW tuner in North America, bringing technology and expertise from the racetrack to the street. Turner Motorsport is not about clever marketing tricks or gimmicks. Racetrack results speak themselves. The Turner Motorsport team has won six professional racing championships in three different series since 2003. This storied success is passed into every component that Turner Motorsport designs and sells through their website catalog. Our race team, R&D engineers and Sales team work together, ensuring practical knowledge and state-of-the-art engineering flow in both directions. Few companies in North America can claim such a close relationship to what they sell and what they race