The racing series that compete under the SRO Motorsports Group America banner will open their 2022 season at Sonoma Raceway in California on the weekend of April 15–17. There will be three M4 GT3 entries in the top-tier Fanatec GT World Challenge America championship, with one car each for Turner Motorsport, BimmerWorld Racing, and Samantha Tan Racing.
There will be some interesting dynamics at play. Turner Motorsport has a proven driver pairing with Robby Foley and Michael Dinan, and already have experience racing the M4 GT3, as do Samantha Tan and Nick Wittmer, who scored the first win for the M4 GT3 in the 24H Series twelve-hour race at Mugello last month.
The wild card in GT World Challenge among the BMW entries is the BimmerWorld Racing entry for Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull. Auberlen, of course, has more experience driving BMWs than anyone, but Hull has limited experience in the M4 GT3 and the team has very limited testing time in the car, having received theirs later than the others. Finally, Auberlen will also be racing against Robby Foley, who is his teammate in the IMSA GTD class M4 GT3 for Turner Motorsport.
Besides the trio of M4 GT3s racing in Fanatec GT World Challenge, we’ll also see a plethora of BMWs in the GT4 America and TC America series, which will be running on the same weekends as GT World Challenge. There will be a total of nine M4 GT4s racing in GT4 America, in what will be the last year of competition for the F82 M4 GT4 before the new G82 M4 GT4 debuts in 2023. Auto Technic has the most entries with three cars, and BimmerWorld and Fast Track Racing have two cars apiece. There are also single-car entries from Club racing regulars Rooster Hall Racing, as well as Random Vandals Racing.
One highlight of GT4 America will be the return of Devin Jones in the BimmerWorld Racing M4 GT4 that he’ll share with James Walker Jr. Jones broke his back and right arm in a crash during a Michelin Challenge race weekend at VIR in 2020 in a BimmerWorld M4 GT4, and this will be his first full season of racing since recovering from that accident. Both BimmerWorld entries should be contenders in GT4 America. There’s also a pair of M4 GT4s competing in GT America from SRQ Motorsports. GT America is a single-driver series with a mix of GT3- and GT4-spec cars.
Nine M2 CS Racing cars will be entered in the TC America TCX class (which consists exclusively of M2 CS Racing entries). There will also be two M240i Racing entries in the TC class within TC America, as well as one Mini entry from the Mini JCW team, who will also field a Mini in the lower TCA class.
The various SRO championships will give BMW fans a lot to watch in 2022, with the new M4 GT3 and a wide variety of M4 GT4, M2 CS Racing, and M240i Racing entries. The SRO season opens at Sonoma Raceway on April 15–17 and will race at some great tracks throughout the season, including VIR, Watkins Glen, Road America, Sebring, and Indianapolis, as well as the new Ozarks International Raceway. For more information, visit the SRO website.—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Dusty Renteria, Rooster Hall Racing.]