Round 2: SRO Championship – Virginia International Raceway

After a four-month break from racing, the BimmerWorld Racing team was eager to get back to work. Thankfully for them, they got back into the swing of things at their home track of VIRginia International Raceway for the SRO Championship.

BimmerWorld rolled out their two TC America M240i Racing cars and their SRO M4 GT4 on a very hot weekend for six total races across two series. SRO has decided to run three races per weekend on select rounds to act as “makeup” races for the events that were canceled over the past several months. For this round, both series added a third race, making it vital to take care of the cars and drivers so they all survive an already hectic weekend.

For the TC America series, James Clay in the No. 36 OPTIMA Batteries / Pörq M240iR and Chandler Hull in his No. 94 TAC Energy M240iR had solid showings all weekend. James with a second-place finish on Friday and a pair of third-place finishes on Saturday and Sunday after some absolutely epic battles among the top-3. Chandler Hull had the speed to beat all weekend as he set the fastest lap throughout the first two races, placing him on pole for the start of Saturday’s and Sunday’s races, but he had an unlucky tangle with a tire wall while in a fierce battle for a podium spot at the end of Race 2. The BimmerWorld crew jumped into action and repaired the car to get Chandler back to take the green flag on pole for the last race of the weekend. Hull finished the three-race weekend with a fourth-, fifth-, and tenth-place finish.

In the GT4 America Sprint X series, Bill Auberlen and James Walker Jr. took the Red Line Oil M4 GT4 to the top of the leader board right off the bat in practice and showed that they came with a purpose – to win. And win they did. Coming home with some serious hardware, Auberlen and Walker racked up two wins and a second-place finish, showing that the couple months off had no effect on their speed.

It was a much-needed successful week back at the track after a long break.

SRO America, Virginia International Raceway, Alton, VA, July 2020. (Photo by Brian Cleary/SRO)

Next up for the SRO Championship: Sonoma Raceway August 7-9 where the TC America cars will have only two races, but the GT4 Sprint X series will have another triple-header!

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BimmerWorld Racing Finishes Just Off Podium in Valiant Drive at Lime Rock Park

The BimmerWorld Racing duo of team owner James Clay of Blacksburg, Va. and Devin Jones of Mooresville, N.C. took their No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries/Veristor BMW M4 GT4 to a fourth-place finish in the challenging Lime Rock Park 120 race. The MICHELIN Pilot Challenge series’ two-hour race featured 33 cars vying for victory in two classes, Grand Sport (GS) and Touring Car (TCR), around the tight 1.478-mile, 7-turn road course in the northwest corner of Connecticut near the Berkshire Mountains.

Qualifying driver Clay started from the 10th position on the grid in the GS class in the nail-biting race that was run under sunny skies. The record-setting heat and humidity forced the team to deal with a heat index of 99 degrees F, and the track’s surface temperature registered at a whopping 109 degrees, making the short and technical track that much more challenging under race conditions.

Clay quickly moved up one spot before confronting a familiar Mercedes that brought about unneeded contact in the previous race. Joined by former teammate Tyler Cooke in an Audi R8, the duo finally shoved their way past the very wide car. Clay then focused on turning clean laps and passing lapped traffic for a long, hot driving stint, eventually pitting his BMW M4 from third position in class before the first stop on Lap 55 at approximately 53 minutes into the two-hour race.

The BimmerWorld Racing executed another great pit stop with the driver change, a full load of fuel, and four tires in a green-flag stop late in the pit cycle. This had co-driver Jones rejoining the field in the 14th position and one lap down, but with the pit cycle completed, the No. 82 settled out on the lead lap and inside the top 10 again. After ten more laps of foot-down driving, Jones elevated himself into seventh before setting his first fastest lap of the race on Lap 66 with a time of 54.8.

Several competitors had come in for their second stop with a short fuel fill, but the BimmerWorld team, along with several others, were on a daring strategy to wait for a yellow flag that might have prevented the need for the additional fuel. But as the minutes ticked down and time was running out, it was clear that the team was being boxed into a losing strategy. Just as the team made the call to pit, they were gifted the yellow flag they were hoping for, which was the only full-course caution of the race, came out on lap 87 with just 35 minutes remaining for debris on the track.

Jones stayed out in the initial pit cycle while the majority of top cars came in, putting the No. 82 BMW M4 on the lead lap in the pass-around process as the pace car caught the new leader positioned behind him. The BimmerWorld team then made the daring call to pit off-sequence on the very short track for two left-side tires and a splash of fuel, sending Jones out of the pits mere seconds before the leader as the track went green. This put Jones in the podium-fighting position of fourth after jumping multiple cars in the pits.

Jones put his head down from the lap-94 restart in a valiant effort to finish on the podium, even besting his earlier fastest time on lap 98 with a time of 54.777 around the small and tight Lime Rock circuit. As close as he got in the final minutes of the edge-of-your-seat race, he couldn’t quite break into the top three and had to settle for fourth position on the final lap.

Although it was a strong finish for the BimmerWorld team, they fell from first to second position in the GS championship points battle and three points down, having had a one-point advantage coming into the Lime Rock race weekend.

The Lime Rock Park 120 race will be televised taped delay on the NBC Sports Network on Friday, July 26 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Eastern time.

The next MICHELIN Pilot Challenge event, Round 7 of 10, will be the Road America 120 race held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc. on August 3rd.

Post-race quotes follow:

James Clay, Blacksburg, Va., team owner and driver, No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries/Veristor BMW M4GT4:
“After our BoP (Balance of Performance) change before the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park race, I think we’re really scrapping hard for anything we’ve got. I think these next races are going to be a challenge and, unfortunately, I believe we’re in a prevent type situation. But we’re still bold with strategy and still trying to win races. I think Road America is going to suit our car better than this track did, so I like our chances going in there. But with the Audi in the points lead right now, that’s going to be a really tough car because they’re also really solid right now. So we’ll see.”

Devin Jones, Mooresville, N.C., driver, No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries/Veristor BMW M4 GT4:
“Going into this race, we knew it was going to be tough. Practice was up and down, and we weren’t sure where we were speed-wise, but we were pretty confident in our long-run pace. I think that showed today, along with a great job by James in keeping his nose clean and keeping us on the lead lap in the beginning because that was a concern. We went a lap down under the caution but had good strategy and were able to get it back. We came in and put on left-side tires and started running good lap times and salvaged a fourth-place finish. We can’t really be too disappointed with that. Every weekend you want to win or be on the podium, but you’ve got to take what you can get, especially because it’s a long season. It was a solid points day, even though we lost the lead. We’re still right in contention and we’ve still got some good tracks coming up for us. I’ve got to thank all the guys for the hard work this weekend. It was really hot. I’m exhausted!”

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ABOUT: BimmerWorld is renowned as a leader in BMW aftermarket and tuning expertise. It competes in the IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge series in the Grand Sport (GS) class with a BMW Motorsport M4 GT4, where the Virginia-based outfit has become a winner and championship contender. It was also the Street Tuner champion of that series in 2018. 2019 also marks BimmerWorld Racing’s return to the SRO TC America Championship in the Touring Car (TC) class with two BMW Motorsport M240i Racing cars.

BimmerWorld Racing Proves It’s Not Over Until It’s Over at Daytona

Championship-winning athletes stick to their game plan despite what the competition is doing, think independently when necessary, keep persevering, and pounce when opportunity knocks. BimmerWorld Racing’s James Clay and Devin Jones showed all of those attributes in Friday’s season opener for the IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge series and came away with a solid fourth in the BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Raceway. The finish was a thriller, as their car advanced three positions in the last three minutes of the four-hour race.

James Clay, of Blacksburg, Va., started ninth. He stayed at the controls of his Dublin, Va.-based team’s No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries/Veristor BMW M4 GT4 for the entire first half of the race, despite watching his main rivals peel into the pits during three of the race’s nine caution flags in an attempt to gain an advantage with their teams’ strategies. He stuck to his guns and didn’t let them affect his team’s master plan, and he also dealt with an unusual power problem with the No. 82.

Clay made two pit stops under yellow flags on lap 18 and 30, had a tremendous battle with Austin Cindric, stayed out of trouble even when Fred Poordad spun in front of him, and was eighth when he pitted for Jones to take over under the fifth yellow with 2:01.40 remaining.

Devin Jones, of Mooresville, N.C., was unable to get a good rhythm going initially due to more caution flags. He also had to deal with the major disadvantage of no radio contact with the pits and its spotters through his entire stint. But the series’ 2018 Street Tuner co-champion responded like the champ he is, setting the car’s fastest lap of the race on lap 77 with a time of 1:53.792. Jones led laps 78 and 79 before the team requested a black flag be displayed to signal him to come in for his final pit stop for fuel and a set of fresh Michelin tires on lap 80.

The stop put Jones back in 19th place, and at one point he was a lap down, but once again the team stuck to its plans and kept digging. Jones was 15th with 30 minutes remaining, and he was 12th when the final full-course caution flew with 15:29 left. He had a great car under him, but with three minutes left, Jones was still in seventh place. He wasn’t done passing cars, though. In 6th with just 1:19 to go, Jones took advantage of the two cars battling ahead which gave him the massive Daytona two-car draft in the last turn of the last lap before taking the checker about a nose ahead of the other two, nailing 4th-place when the checkered flew on lap 101 for the thrilling finish.

A second BimmerWorld BMW M4 GT4 driven by Kaz Grala of Westborough, Mass. and Aurora Straus of Cold Spring, N.Y. started 16th but cut a tire very early in the race and had to spend a great deal of time in the pits and the garage for repairs. The team worked hard to get the car back into the action, and both drivers got some time behind the wheel. Their car, sponsored by Richard Mille watches and Straus’s Girls With Drive program, was credited with a 30th-place finish in the Grand Sport class. Straus set that car’s fastest lap of the race with a 1:54.847 on lap 57.

Friday’s race will be shown on NBCSN from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Feb. 6.

This race supported the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The next event will be held March 13-16 at Sebring, Fla., as part of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring weekend.

Post-race quotes follow:

James Clay, Blacksburg, Va., team owner and driver, No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries/Veristor BMW M4 GT4:
“We had a tenth-place qualifying and the car had better in it. But then at the start of the race, there was something wrong with the power. Last year here we had a good car on the straights, and we were pretty much lining up and passing people. There wasn’t a single car I could even hold on to in the draft today.

“We reset after the first stint, and we feel like it got better, or we think there was some sort of ECU compensation or something going on. We’re going to dig into it. Obviously, towards the tail end of the race, we had the power and could hang with cars on the straight. Devin did an awesome job with that last few laps and last-lap pass. We didn’t have a fourth-place car today, but we had a team to pull out a fourth-place finish out of a top-10 car. So this was just a super way to start the season. If you’re not going to win it, this is OK too.

“The No. 80 car started off with a flat tire when someone got a nose in and damaged an upright in the same bit of contact, and it was just fighting from there. We replaced some car parts in the garage. It wasn’t the race they wanted, but it was great to have BMW with us to run that historic livery, which is one of my favorites. I absolutely love it. It was a real pleasure having Aurora and Kaz with us. They were great to work with and they’re great upcoming drivers.”

Devin Jones, Mooresville, N.C., driver, No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries/Veristor BMW M4 GT4:
“This was a really wild race! James did a good job managing the car at the beginning and keeping it right where we needed to be. Our pit strategy worked out well, but I had no radio communication the whole time, so I was out there by myself. That made it kind of difficult to judge when I needed to come in.

“I was thinking I needed to come in at the same time they threw the black flag for me because I was watching the gauges. I barely knew it was the white flag [last lap], and I tried to time it right to get around those last two cars at the end and it worked out.

“I have to thank BimmerWorld. They gave me a really awesome car and it handled well. I have to thank OPTIMA Batteries and Veristor, too. I think this is going to be a really good year for us.”

Kaz Grala, Westborough, Mass., driver, No. 80 Richard Mille/Girls with Drive BMW M4 GT4:
“It was an eventful race not only for us but for others too. It was too eventful for us, unfortunately. We cut a tire early and spent about an hour in the garage trying to fix the damage and eventually got back out there. We were pretty good and had a good car from there, but we were just so far behind. But Aurora and I had fun. It was a cool event to do. It wasn’t the best outcome, but hopefully we can come back again sometime this year or next year and see if we can get some redemption.”

Aurora Straus, Cold Spring, N.Y., driver, No. 80 Richard Mille/Girls with Drive BMW M4 GT4:
“This wasn’t the outcome that Kaz and BMW and I wanted, but there was a lot of good that came from the day. It was a really crazy race, and you have to count your blessings and be very thankful to come back with a car that’s in one piece and has almost no damage. Kaz kept it relatively clean, and despite our bad luck, I got an hour of track time, which was nice. I only had the privilege of doing a couple laps during practice, and despite all the hiccups, I managed to run the fastest lap time for our BMW during the entire race. The fastest time in a BMW at the end of my last stint in the race makes me kind of sad because I wonder what we could have done without the bad luck. But on the other hand, I’m happy and healthy, and my car looks good, so I’m feeling pretty good. Despite a lot of issues, we still managed to pull off a really good time at the end of four hours. So, kudos to the car and the team.”

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BimmerWorld Racing Takes Top-Five Finish In Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at Sebring

BimmerWorld Racing had strong showings in the GS and ST classes of Friday’s IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series race at Sebring International Raceway. However, adverse circumstances in the 2-hour and 45-minute race led the Dublin, Va.-based team to finish down the order, with a fifth-place finish in ST and eleventh-place in GS.

In the GS class, team owner James Clay of Blacksburg, Va. and his co-driver, Tyler Cooke of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had an eventful race with their No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries BMW M4 GT4. Clay started seventh, topped off the fuel during a strategy stop on lap 11, and handed the car over to Cooke with 50 minutes remaining on lap 26.

Cooke resumed in ninth place and was setting blistering fast laps to regain ground. He advanced several positions, but with 25 minutes remaining, the BMW and a McLaren went for the same spot of race track and made contact. Cooke was hit with a drive-through penalty that all but ended his run to another podium.

In the ST class, Nick Galante of Greenfield, Mass and Devin Jones of Mooresville, NC started from the third position in the No. 81 Veristor/Legistics BMW 328i. Galante was able to nudge the F30 328i into the lead on lap 1, holding his spot for four laps. The run was short-lived, however, as the 2nd-place MINI made contact with Galante in an effort to take back the lead. Both cars spun but were able to continue. Galante was able to fight back and retake the lead four laps later. Overall, the No. 81 led a total of 14 laps through the race. Fate had other plans for the BMW though, as the car was low on fuel and the team was forced to pit for emergency fuel under a yellow flag while the pits were closed. This drew a 60-second penalty.

The car made its only scheduled pit stop a few laps later when Jones took the controls. Jones had a solid and less dramatic stint, but the time deficit was too much to overcome the speed of the MINIs.

Nick Galante, Greenfield, Mass., driver, No. 81 Veristor/Legistics BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“My stint was good, and I had a good start. I had a good pass on one MINI going into Turn 1, and then I got the lead from another MINI going into Turn 7, so that was good.

“I had some pressure from the No. 37 MINI and out of nowhere, I got hit. It seemed like it came from very far back, so I didn’t see it coming. Luckily, our car wasn’t that damaged. It went from 100 percent to about 95 percent. The contact knocked some toe out of the rear, which may have actually helped it turn better in some of the turns. I hunted down the other ST car and regained the lead again four laps later.

“Then we were running out of fuel as a yellow came out. We entered the pits when they were closed to take on an emergency five gallons of fuel which drew a penalty.

“After the driver change, Devin had to come in and serve our drive-through penalty. If we had another yellow, we might have been able to fight back and have a chance to win, but it wasn’t our day.

“Being out there to race couldn’t happen without Legistics, Racing To End Alzheimer’s [R2Endalz.org], and Veristor. BimmerWorld Racing did an awesome job with the car; James Clay is the best. It was just tough.”

Devin Jones, Mooresville, N.C., driver, No. 81 Veristor/Legistics BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“It was an interesting race. Nick did a great job in the first stint recovering from the spin. He was able to rebound and get back in the race and was leading when he came in for fuel.

“We were hoping for another caution, but even if we had one, we ended up with a sensor issue, so we were running low on power.

“It was just one of those days. The BimmerWorld guys did a great job getting the car prepared, and we’ll get back up there for Mid-Ohio. The car has the speed; we just have to work some of the kinks out of it and we’ll be good.”

James Clay, Blacksburg, Va., team owner and driver, No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries BMW M4 GT4:
“We made a change to the car after qualifying and were hopeful we’d addressed a small handling issue, but unfortunately, I think we made it a little bit worse. The car was still solid and able to run fast, especially in longer stints and after half the fuel load was burned.

“Our strategy kind of led us to always run at a full tank. We pitted early and used the opportunity to fuel up, and we had great pit stops, but ultimately track position was probably more important than a fast car this weekend. We had a drive-through penalty for some contact during Tyler’s stint which didn’t help, but he did a great job out there, and it is what it is. Sebring is a tight track, so when you have two cars that are good on the straight, you’ve got to find your place to pass. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the room, and maybe they thought it wasn’t their place to give it. That’s racing.”

Tyler Cooke, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., driver, No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries BMW M4 GT4:
“We had a car that we knew could have finished on the podium. I was battling with several cars, and I went down the inside of the No. 69 McLaren. We both turned in for the corner, and he gave me a little less room than a car could fit. I ended up tapping him and received a penalty for it, and that kind of killed our day. It’s unfortunate for the team.

“We had a quick car, and as the stint went on, we got quicker and quicker. I knew we had about 25 minutes left when I made the pass, and I knew it was ‘go’ time. Unfortunately, the outcome is what it is. Eleventh place isn’t that terrible, so we’ll move on to Mid-Ohio and make up for the hit to our points.”

The race will be shown on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, March 25 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern. The next event is May 4-6 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. More info is available on imsa.com.

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ABOUT: BimmerWorld is renowned as a leader in BMW aftermarket and tuning expertise. It competes in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series in both the Grand Sport (GS) class with a brand-new BMW Motorsport M4 GT4 and in the Street Tuner (ST) class with a turbocharged BMW 328i (F30 chassis), where the Virginia-based outfit has become a routine winner and championship contender.

BimmerWorld Takes Victory and a Podium in First Round of IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series at Daytona

What a race for BMW at Daytona International Speedway! The BimmerWorld Racing team from Dublin, Va., had a near perfect weekend, collecting the pole and victory in the Street Tuner (ST) class of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (ICTSC) series on Friday, as well as second place in the Grand Sport (GS) class.

The BMW Endurance Challenge race, a part of the 56th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona race, was a four-hour enduro with its fair share of cautions.

Polesitter Devin Jones of Mooresville, N.C. and teammate Nick Galante of Greenfield, Mass. dominated the race in the ST class in their No. 81 BMW 328i (F30 chassis), never putting a wheel wrong, and it paid off in a proud victory for the duo. It was also the first victory for the F30 328i in the ST class, after multiple podiums. Devin, who collected his first IMSA Continental Tire victory today, drove the first 85 laps before changing to teammate Galante.

BimmerWorld team owner James Clay of Blacksburg, Va. and Tyler Cooke of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. started from the 18th position in the GS class in their international GT4-spec No. 82 OPTIMA Batteries BMW M4 GT4. Qualifying and starting driver Clay charged into the Top 10 and even led one lap (lap 17) in a convincing run to the podium in the inaugural Continental Tire race. Clay drove for the first 67 of 106 laps before Cooke came in fresh and continued the gallant charge for their first podium of the season.

Driver Quotes:

James Clay, Blacksburg, Va., team owner and driver, No. 82 BimmerWorld Racing OPTIMA Batteries BMW M4 GT4:
“My stint was awesome! I knew I had some traffic to work through and I’m just happy we got through Turn One together safely, and then it was just a matter of picking it off. I knew we had a car with pace. The key today was avoiding incidents and somehow we did. There were some really close calls. I worked my way up to lead at one point. A win in ST and the debut of the GT4 car with a P2 finish feels great. We knew we had an awesome car under us, despite a bad qualifying, and sure enough, we did. What a fantastic machine and teamwork from the guys, and what a fantastic weekend overall!”

Tyler Cooke, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., driver, No. 82 BimmerWorld Racing OPTIMA Batteries BMW M4 GT4:
“Gosh, it was quite a race. The BMW guys never gave up on us. They really put a lot of effort in and it showed today. We were running on a liter and it was a good battle at the end with the Mustang, and the Mercedes was there. Hat’s off to the BMW 2-4 finish (second and fourth place). It’s setting the tone for the year and I’m really proud to be in the BMW, and I’m proud to have them joining us. The BimmerWorld guys work their tails off and I’m just happy we can take home a piece of hardware for them and they can enjoy it. Now I’m looking forward to Sebring.”

Nick Galante, Greenfield, Mass., driver, No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing Veristor/Legistics BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“Devin drove the first three hours and 58 minutes, I think. I’m kidding, of course, but I only felt like I was in the car for a minute. Devin did a great job of putting the BMW on pole and setting the car up. The BimmerWorld team did most of the hard work getting this car where it needed to be. Hats off to the team and the strategy. Unbelievable job on the strategy by Trent, our engineer. He nailed it perfectly, and Devin drove a great first stint and got the pole, which is awesome. My job was easy, he did all the hard work.”

Devin Jones, Mooresville, N.C., driver, No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing Veristor/Legistics BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“It was definitely a great start to the year. It can’t get much better than a pole and a win at Daytona; it’s huge. It’s been a massive day for us and the whole BimmerWorld team with a second place for their GS car, too. I just have to thank Veristor and everyone that supports this car. It’s really a dream to win here, and I’m just going to absorb it all.

“I grew up watching races here and always being a fan. My dad and I came here in 2004 to race a go-kart, and to see where we’ve come since then is amazing. To win at Daytona is really a dream and it’s all because of these BimmerWorld guys. It’s going to be a great season and what a way to start it.”

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BimmerWorld Racing Finishes Second and Fifth At Its Home Track, VIR

The BimmerWorld Racing team recorded its best results so far this year in the IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge series when it won the pole and placed second and fifth with its two turbocharged BMW 328i (F30 chassis) Street Tuner cars Saturday at its home track, VIRginia International Raceway.

Team owner James Clay of Blacksburg, Va. and his co-driver Tyler Cooke of Matthews, N.C. finished second in the Biscuitville Grand Prix with their OPTIMA Batteries No. 84, with a gap of just 1.352 seconds after two hours of competition.

Clay won the pole on Friday with a time of 2:03.584 and an average speed of 95.255 miles per hour. The car that eventually won qualified second and got the jump on the initial start, but Clay powered back into the lead before the first lap was completed and then led every lap of his stint. He stretched that lead to over three seconds at times before turning the car over to Cooke under a full-course caution with 56 minutes remaining in the race.

Cooke started his stint as the class leader after a strong pit stop, but the car that eventually won got the upper hand on a restart on lap 32 with 48 minutes to go. Cooke set the car’s fastest lap of the race on lap 43 with a 2:05.026. He stayed in second place through his entire stint, and the strong finish moved the pair up to fourth in the point standings.

The No. 84 led the most laps for the second race in a row, topping the charts for 30 circuits to the winner’s 21.

Clay was also able to come through for the governor of Virginia who had a friendly bet with the governor of North Carolina over whose state’s driver would finish higher. Clay was second, while the N.C. governor’s choice finished 12th.

The Dublin, Va.-based team’s Powerflex BMW No. 81 also recorded its best finish of the season when Ari Balogh of Menlo Park, Calif. and Greg Liefooghe of San Francisco came in fifth. Balogh qualified seventh and then had a spectacular save after an off-course excursion at the start. He was in 13th place when he pitted for Liefooghe to take over, but Liefooghe was back in seventh by lap 33 when the second yellow came out after speedy pit work, some attrition, and good restarts. He moved into sixth on lap 42 with 16 minutes remaining by passing Andrew Carbonell, and fifth on lap 49 with just 2:50 to go by passing James Vance. Liefooghe set the entry’s fastest race lap on lap 44 with a 2:05.285.

The race will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, Sept. 3 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Eastern.

Only two more events remain in the 2017 season: Sept. 22-24 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, Calif., and Oct. 4-7 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga. For more information, see imsa.com.

James Clay, Blacksburg, Va., team owner and driver, No. 84 OPTIMA Batteries BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“This is our home track, so we know the track and had the car set up well for it. Things have leveled out a little bit, so we have a good car in the field, and that’s super important. We were certainly hoping for a win at Road America, but the weather interfered. We were obviously hoping for the win today, and we just didn’t have the speed for the Nissan at the restart. We got jumped and couldn’t catch back up and couldn’t get around them — they drove a great race. I’m super proud of our team. Two cars in the top five; it was a pretty solid weekend. We have two more before the end of the year, so let’s see if we can win one of those.”

Tyler Cooke, Matthews, N.C., driver, No. 84 OPTIMA Batteries BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“We had an awesome car throughout the whole weekend, and the track took a big change in my stint, so the car fell off a little different than we wanted it. It got really loose, and the track was ripping up with bits of the track surface digging into the tires. There was a lot of stuff going on, but it was a really fun battle with Owen [Trinkler]. He just had more straight line [speed] than me. I was trying my best through the corners, but he would just get down the straightaway a little better. Second place, home track — I’m pumped for that. It helped us in the points and helped us going into Laguna. We’re pretty good at Laguna, so here’s hoping for the best there.”

Greg Liefooghe, San Francisco, driver, No. 81 Powerflex BMW 328i (F30 chassis), which he shares with Ari Balogh of Menlo Park, Calif.:
“I think it was a good race. It was definitely a battle from start to finish. You know, it’s funny, here the cars are all equal in terms of pace, but they all make their speed very differently, so it makes the race seem very interesting but very challenging at the same time. It was definitely a battle to come up through the pack. Ari was running really well. Unfortunately, there was something that happened at the end of the back straight, and we lost a bunch of positions there, but he ran a really good stint. The guys did great on the pit stop, and we gained a few positions there and then we moved up to P5, so it was a good day.”

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ABOUT: BimmerWorld is renowned as a leader in BMW aftermarket and tuning expertise and competes in the IMSA Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge series with a pair of BMW 328is (F30), where the Virginia-based outfit has become a routine winner and championship contender.

BimmerWorld Collects Top Five Finish After Second Pole of Season at Laguna Seca

BimmerWorld-Collects-Top-Five-Finish-at-Laguna-Seca

The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge weekend started right for the BimmerWorld Racing team when team owner/driver James Clay qualified the No. 84 OPTIMA Batteries BMW 328i on the pole for the two hour and thirty minute race, Round 3 of the 2016 Continental Tire Challenge series. This was the second pole for the Virginia-based BMW aftermarket and tuning specialists’ team with their relatively new F30 chassis. Teammate Tyler Cooke collected a pole at Sebring International Raceway in March.

Clay and Cooke drove a strong and lively race, where they stayed in the Top 5 the entire race other than when they pitted for a driver change, tires, and fuel. Even with Clay having a touch of the flu, he drove smart and delivered a fast car to Cooke. Despite a spirited on-track battle, Cooke brought home the No. 84 F30 in fourth place in class.

The results of the No. 81 BimmerWorld BMW 328i of Jerry Kauffman and Kyle Tilley with 20th place in the ST class did not show the strength of the car at the start of yesterday’s race, and contact with another car during the race provided challenges that caused Tilley to have to preserve the car to finish and get needed points towards the 2016 championship.

James Clay, Team Owner and driver, No. 84 OPTIMA Batteries BMW 328i (F30 chassis): ”We’re really happy about the race. The car was good. I ran a good stint despite struggling with a little flu, so I was really happy about it given the situation. We’re always hurting a little bit on a pit stop because we have a long fuel fill, based on the fuel usage of the car, but the guys did an awesome job and were flawless. Tyler drove an awesome race. We would have liked to have been on the podium, but it’s not so bad being in fourth.”

Tyler Cooke, driver, No. 84 OPTIMA Batteries BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“We had a really good race. James got the car in the Top 3, which worked out in our favor. The team did a great job, and I got in for a green flag pit stop with driver change, tires, fuel all going smoothly. We had a really great race going between me, Jerry Mosing and Eric Foss. If you could watch the in-car camera footage of Eric or me, it was really sideways. I have a lot of respect for Eric and have looked up to him for years. It was really cool to get to race against him. We had a very good battle going on into the esses. I moved in front of him, we touched and I went sideways, and it was a good ol’ hard-racing battle to the end, which fans love to see. I wasn’t happy after the hit, but it’s racing at the end of the day.”

Kyle Tilley, driver, No. 81 BimmerWorld BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“I don’t know whether we broke something or bent something in the rear but we had contact with a car that was a lap down on us. After that there was this crazy knocking noise every time the car was loaded, would transfer, and then become unloaded. So it became a case of damage preservation to get to the finish and score what points we could. It was a frustrating day, but at least our sister car had a good result. So onwards and upwards, we’ll go out again next race and see what we can do, but definitely it was a frustrating race, for sure.”

Jerry Kaufman, driver, No. 81 BimmerWorld BMW 328i (F30 chassis):
“My race stint went really well. We had a really good start. The track temperatures were up so we had a little less grip. I tried to save the tires as long as I could because I knew they would come into play later in the stint. Rather than gaining places, which is what I did early at Daytona and Sebring, I held off and then pulled all my places at the end of the stint so Kyle could get in the car and do some work. Unfortunately, he had some contact and we didn’t finish as well as we would have otherwise but, the strategy was there. It was strong and the team gave us a good car. It performed much better today than it did all weekend so I’m really happy with it.”

FOLLOW BIMMERWORLD AT: https://www.facebook.com/bimmerworld

STAY UP TO DATE WITH BIMMERWORLD NEWS AT: http://www.bimmerworldracing.com
ABOUT: BimmerWorld is renowned as a leader in BMW aftermarket and tuning expertise, and competes in the Continental Tire Series with a pair of BMW 328is (F30) where the Virginia-based outfit has become a routine winner and Championship contender.