derBayerische January/February 2022 - 22

I M S A M I C H E L I N
G T W E E K E N D
■ (Above from Left) Bill Auberlen #95 pushes the M4 entering the Snake portion of VIR. Robby Foley qualifying the M6 on the GTD pole.
VIR has been a GT-only race for some
time. We only have two classes, not
five, and there isn't as much of a
speed differential between the cars.
The GT cars can race without concern
for the prototypes. Again, we
have followed a strong season from
Turner Motorsports. As I said above,
two races prior to VIR, Turner had
drivers Bill Auberlen and Robby
Foley solidly leading the point standings
in GTD. Fortune hasn't been
kind to Turner since, and unusual
gremlins have surfaced to cause
them to lose their lead. Having said
that, coming to Virginia, Auberlen
and Foley were in fourth place
and still capable of winning the
championship. The M6 GT3 has
done well in previous years at VIR,
so we were optimistic for good
results. After leading the first
practice with Auberlen in the M6
GT3, Turner chose to keep the laps to
a minimum in the second wet/drying
practice. Qualifying would see a
solid performance from Foley as he
put the M6 on the GTD pole for the
2-hour 40-minute race.
The race began in semi-damp
conditions making for some dicey
racing at the start. The drivers
described the conditions as
" sketchy " . After putting the Turner
M6 on pole Robby Foley had the
honor of taking the first stint in those
■ Auberlen applying pressuring Laurens Vanthoor in the #9 Pfaff Porsche.
sketchy conditions. Robby held the
lead and began to open a gap to the
Richard Heist and the Carbahn Audi
R8. It was a good race. Even though
the gap opened, they weren't very
far apart. Heistand was under attack
from Madison Snow (in a
Lamborghini Huracan), so he had
plenty of work to do.
The IMSA legend Bill
Auberlen is the Maestro
achieving success despite
difficult circumstances.
After the issues at Long Beach,
it was encouraging to see the M6
being so competitive and Robby
driving an excellent race. Even
though VIR is a shorter race (2 hours
40 minutes), driver changes, pit
stops, and refueling strategy play a
big role. At 26 laps, falling to 9th in
class, Turner took the opportunity to
stop for fuel and put Bill Auberlen in
the car. Bill then set about regaining
positions as the others stopped.
His race with Brian Sellers, in the
Lamborghini, completing a pass in
the climbing esses was something
special. It also demonstrated the
commitment the Turner Motorsports
team had after the recent lack of
success. It took Bill seven laps to
regain the lead.
While the races were in
progress, in addition to enjoying
lunch on both Saturday and Sunday,
many prizes were awarded to the
corral attendees. On Saturday, Mike
Renner (BMW Performance Center),
gave away an M-School. This year's
winner was Ben Williams who will
likely attend the teen driver's school.
On Sunday we attended a presentation
and question-and-answer
session with a Michelin engineer
who then gave away a very nice
Michelin jacket.
As the race continued, Bill
Auberlen held the lead for eleven
laps before pitting for fuel and tires.
They chose to do this under a yellow
with the rest of the top competitors.
They would all still need another
stop to finish the race. With about
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