Yahoo Autos Turner looking for a return to winning in IMSA’s WeatherTech Championship
The past season was an interesting year for Turner Motorsport. On one hand, for the first time in more than a decade, the team went winless in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Although new teammates Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher found the GTD podium on three occasions in the No. 96 BMW M4 GT3, including second places at Sebring and Petit Le Mans, it was never the top step. On the other hand, Foley and Vince Barletta took the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS championship for the team, and Francis Selldorf claimed the inaugural VP Racing SportsCar Challenge title in the GSX class.
Those latter triumphs, along with the podiums in WeatherTech Championship — including one from Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull — helped propel Turner Motorsport to the BMW M Sport Trophy, awarded to the top privateer team racing BMWs worldwide.
“After running BMWs, for 20 years, at least 20 years, and competing in 355 races with BMW, every year we’d go to the M Sport Trophy banquet, and hope we’d be the number one team,” said team owner Will Turner.
“And every time we were never the number one team, so it was truly an honor and a surprise to finally take the top position in that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it over to the Sport Trophy presentation, so I had to hear about it through some FaceTime and stuff from the people that were there. But it’s awesome. It’s awesome for the team and the drivers. So congratulations to the whole Turner motorsports team that that made it happen.”
In the WeatherTech Championship, Turner split up longtime partners Foley and Auberlen, and paired Gallagher and Foley in the full-time No. 96 GTD car, while the second car, the No. 97, split its time between GTD PRO for most of the endurance races, and GTD. Gallagher and Foley have known each other a long time, going back to their MX-5 Cup days, and the duo showed promise with the three runner-up finishes.
“I would say we’ve had a good year of ups and downs,” said Foley late in the season. “Some really good moments, P2 at Sebring, which, obviously one away from a big win, in one of the biggest races in the world. We’ve had a strong car all year, I think. We’ve had some unlucky races, we’ve had some mistakes.”
Now the team looks to 2024. Foley and Gallagher’s endurance partner in 2023, Michael Dinan, is moving to LMP2. In his place is 17-year-old Jake Walker, with Jens Klingmann joining for Daytona.
“I’ve had my eye on Jake for about a year now,” said Turner “At the Indy SRO race he got into a BMW GT3 for the first time and was immediately competitive. We need this 17-year-old in our car. He’s got a bright future.”
Turner split its driver pairings in 2023, and the No. 97 entry also split its time between GTD PRO and GTD. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
Walker got into Turner’s BMW at the recent IMSA homologation test at Daytona International Speedway. It was a positive test for the team, and for BMW in general, which seemed to be much more on pace at the speedway than it has been in the last two iterations of the Rolex 24. Foley says 2024 is looking to be a positive season for the team.
“We’re heading into our third year with this car, so we’ve got some confidence,” Foley said.
“We have some ideas over the winter to push ourselves forward. And we’re just trying to kind of refine our program, as everybody is. Patrick’s gonna be in for a second year. He’s got a lot of talent. He got the rookie season out of the way, so now he knows what he doesn’t know. We’re ready for round two. And yeah, we have Jake Walker joining us for the endurance races, which is exciting. He has some previous experience in this car, he did a good job, and so far has been doing great. He’s a young kid, but he’s got a lot of talent, so we’re just gonna try to mold him and teach him all the things that he doesn’t know. There’s a lot of new for him coming into IMSA, into a high-level championship, but so far, so good. We’re looking forward to a good year.”
Gallagher echoed Foley’s hope for a solid season in their second year as a pairing and his second with the team: “I’m super excited to be back with Robby and Turner motorsport. Jake is doing a great job so far and we have a strong lineup, strong team. Car seems to be OK so far. You don’t have any idea what anyone else has, but super-excited to be back. It’s nice to have two full seasons at one team — from 2018 to 2021, that wasn’t the case for me. So my stuff was already in the trailer, it was nice.”
Turner Motorsport is looking at some big changes, with only one car and not fielding BMW legend Bill Auberlen for the first time. The team is also the lone BMW entrant in GTD, with Paul Miller Racing moving to GTD PRO. Turner sees that as a good turn.
“I think it’ll actually be advantageous because now [we and PMR] are not competing against each other,” he said. “Although we’re friendly competitors, for sure. Now that we’re in a different class, maybe we can use some of the stuff that we’re keeping from each other to help each other and be faster. So I think it’s a positive thing.”
Still, it won’t be easy. Twenty-five cars are expected to line up for the Rolex 24 At Daytona in a GT field that will total 38 GT3 cars, and 18 are scheduled for the full season. It’s one of the most stacked GTD fields the class has seen. But Turner Motorsport has a long history of winning, and came oh-so-close in 2023. Plus, Will Turner would probably like another shot at collecting the M Sport Trophy personally.
