Turner Motorsport has already announced their return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class and have now confirmed that they will also return to the Michelin Pilot Challenge championship to defend the drivers and team championships they earned in 2023, though there will be some changes in the driver lineups with their two entries.
Defending co-driver champion Robby Foley will be back in the team #96 M4 GT4 but will be paired with Francis Selldorff rather than Vin Barletta, who was co-champion with Foley in 2023. They should be a very strong pairing, as Selldorff won the VP SportsCar Challenge drivers’ championship in 2023 in a Turner M4 GT4. Barletta will be focusing more on his business in 2024 but will still be doing some racing when it fits into his schedule.
Turner Motorsport has a strong lineup in the #95 M4 GT4 as well, with Robert Megennis paired up with Dillon Machavern. Megennis drove the #95 car in 2023 with Cameron Lawrence, who has joined the RAFA Racing team as a pro driver and racing coach for 2024. Machavern is very quick and has a lot of experience driving with Turner Motorsport over the years in both GT4 and GT3 machinery. Most recently, Machavern co-drove with Bill Auberlen in an F82 M4 GT4 in the 2022 Michelin Pilot Challenge season and were contenders for the championship for most of the season.
Team Owner Will Turner is excited for the new season. “The 2023 IMSA season was one of our best,” he said. “The VP and IMPC (Michelin Challenge) championships were capped with Turner winning the BMW Sport Trophy Team title as the most successful BMW Customer Racing team in the world. All of that will be hard to beat, but we are ready to go with what I believe is one of our strongest driver lineups. Welcome back to Dillon Machavern and Megennis, Foley and Selldorf. Strong, strong, strong, and strong.” The Michelin Pilot Challenge season opens on January 26th with a four-hour race at Daytona International Speedway.
Conspicuous in his absence in the Turner announcements is Bill Auberlen. Auberlen will not be in a Turner Motorsport BMW for the 2024 season, which is the first time in years that he hasn’t driven for the team. We’ve yet to hear where Auberlen will be racing in 2024. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Turner Motorsport and by David Haueter]
