BimmerWorld Confirms CTSC Return

James Clay and Tyler Cooke will continue to co-drive BimmerWorld’s No. 84 BMW 328i in 2017. Stepping into the team’s No. 81 BMW 328i will be Ari Balogh of Menlo Park, California and Greg Liefooghe of San Francisco.

“We are excited with our 2017 program and we have been hard at work on it since October,” said Clay, who is BimmerWorld Racing principal in addition to his role as driver.

“We continue to spend the time we have before season start improving our BMWs even further, testing and concentrating on making BimmerWorld Racing the best we can.

“IMSA’s Continental Tire Challenge ST class is very competitive and you have to enter the season and each race at your top form. We are going to focus on doing just that. We are rooted in BMW, love the brand, and I want to focus fully on our core strength.”

Both current BMW cars are turbocharged and using the F30 chassis. The No. 84 finished 10th in the Continental Tire Challenge ST point standings in 2016.

BimmerWorld won four pole positions in 2016 and ran at the front of the field at multiple events as it developed the F30 turbo-powered platform. It delivered the car’s first podium finish in the series at Sebring in March.

The team started prepping for 2017 immediately following the 2016 season finale at Road Atlanta, where the team led the most laps and will be present at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 in early January, ahead of the four-hour season-opener on Jan. 27 at Daytona.