derBayerische May/June 2023 - 25

T H E
2 0 2 3 R O L E X 2 4 A T D A Y T O N A
■ BMW's #24 M Hybrid V8 finished the race without major problems in 6th place.
that put the car among the best
times of the race. This time places
the BMW between the two Cadillacs'
fastest laps. During all the testing
leading up to the race, the focus of
the M Hybrid V8s was race pace, not
ultimate speed, but this suggests
there is speed there to unlock. They
got lots of excellent data and the
drivers spent time in the cars
competing all the way to the end.
That was probably the best result we
could have hoped for.
GT was a discouraging story
with three M4 GT3s well off the
pace. The best finishing M4 was the
Paul Miller Racing #1 in 8th place in
GTD with a best lap time about 1.8
sec off the winning Aston Martin
and 3 laps down. The #96 Turner
M4 had gearbox problems,
spending time in the pits and
finishing 17th in class. The Turner
Motorsports #95 in GTDPRO
worked its way up to 6th place until
a power steering failure ended its
race with two and a half hours
remaining, to finish in 9th place.
GTDPRO was won by a Mercedes
May I June
AMG GT3 that had dominated
the event. As I said, these were
discouraging results in GT for the
M4 GT3s. We can only hope IMSA
will adjust the BoP to establish a
more equitable performance level
for the BMWs.
The IMSA race weekends also
include the Michelin Pilot
Challenge. In this case, it's known
as the BMW M Endurance
Challenge at Daytona, which is a
4-hour race for GT4 and TCR
(Touring Car) classed cars. For
2023, the new G82 M4 GT4 model
will compete for the first time.
There are five M4s entered in the
Michelin Pilot Challenge: two cars
from Turner Motorsports and one
car each from Auto Technic Racing,
Fast Track Racing and Stephen
Cameron Racing. Usually, Turner
teams have done well in the GT4based
series, but this year all
the BMWs were off the pace. This
could be the result of the new
G82 M4 GT4 model and a very
conservative approach to the BoP
from IMSA.
The single car from Auto
Technic Racing qualified best at 7th
in the GS class. The #95 Turner car
qualified 11th, the #26 from Fast
Track Racing qualified 22nd, the
#96 Turner car qualified 26th, and
the #43 Stephen Cameron car
qualified 32nd. We can only hope
IMSA will adjust the BoP to allow
the M4 to be more competitive. In
uqalifying, the Auto Technic Racing
M4 with John Campestro-Dubets
came up with an excellent effort to
be just over half a second off the
pole putting the car in 7th position,
doing faster laps than we had seen
in practice. The front of the grid was
dominated by a Porsche and two
Mustangs. During the first safety
car period and with pit stops,
Dubets ended up in the lead on the
14th lap and stayed in the lead for
seven laps after having quite a
race with the leading cars. The M4
doesn't have a comparable top
speed tothe top group, so Dubets
gradually fell back through the field.
IMSA has apreference for holding
back new cars and you could
see it here.
The 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona
was truly an international event with
the new GTP cars making their first
run in competition. The full attention
of the world of motorsports was
evident. BMW sent some of its top
management personnel to be part
of the race weekend. Oliver Zipse,
Chairman of the Board of
Management of the BMW Group,
came to Daytona to witness the
debut of the BMW M Hybrid V8.
Zipse would be the honorary starter
of the race and wave the green flag.
The new M3 CS was debuted by
BMW M GmbH CEO, Frank van
Meel. Andreas Roos, head of BMW
M Motorsport, was in attendance to
support his new race program.
It was truly a special celebration of
this new era supported by IMSA
and the ACO. As we move on to
Sebring, IMSA will allow the GTP
cars to increase their available
power, so we should see more
speed as their development continues.
It will be an interesting year
for sportscar racing in 2023.
25
derBayerische May/June 2023

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