We’ve mentioned the Turner Motorsport racing plans for 2022 here before, but things are now official. The team just released a picture of the livery for the pair of M4 GT3s they plan to run in the 2022 racing season.
After six years of racing the M6 GT3 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class, Turner will return to the series in 2022 with a new M4 GT3 driven by team regulars Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley in the GTD Pro-Am class. They will be joined at the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona by works driver Jens Klingmann and Michael Dinan. Dinan will also act as a third driver in the other three long IMSA endurance races after Daytona (Sebring, Watkins Glen, Petit Le Mans) and will also co-drive with Foley in the team’s SRO GT World Challenge M4 GT3 entry. Dinan and Foley drove an M6 GT3 together in that series last year.
Team owner Will Turner is very excited for the upcoming season. “The pairing of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley is as good as anyone, so our expectations are pretty high,” he said. “Michael has progressed very nicely over the past season driving with Robby and I am expecting good things from him supporting our IMSA endurance effort. Jens has raced the BMW M6 with us in past seasons, co-driving to our first M6 win at Road America in 2017. Additionally, in his role as a BMW Motorsport driver, Jens has spent a great deal of time during the development of the M4 GT3. There is a great deal of synergy in our lineup.”
Race engineer Jay O’Connell will also move over to the Turner IMSA GTD program after working within the SRO program last year. O’Connell has a great deal of experience, including over ten years at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, where he was heavily involved in the BMW Team RLL programs as well as IndyCar. “The combination of Don Salama, our strategist, and Jay is sure to generate some excitement and keep all our competitors on their toes.” added Turner.
The Turner IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (IMPC) program will continue with no changes from last year, with Robby Foley and Vin Barletta paired in one F82 M4 GT4 and Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern in a second car. The team narrowly missed out on the championship in 2021 when Auberlen was hit by another car in the last race of the year while leading the championship. “Everything remains the same with our IMPC program, but this year we’ll win the championship,” said Turner. The 2022 season will be the last for the F82 M4 GT4, as it will be replaced by the new G82 M4 GT4 in the 2023 season.—David Haueter
[Photo courtesy Turner Motorsport.]