Turner Remaining Realistic on “Exciting” Triple Title Prospects

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Will Turner said he’s remaining realistic on the prospects of potentially pulling off three professional North American sports car racing titles in the same year, with each of his BMW programs either leading or in the fight for their respective championships with two races to go across all series.

The team with the most starts in BMW machinery worldwide currently sits second in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD standings with Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher, only 36 points behind the Winward Racing duo of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward.

Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars, meanwhile, took over the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS points lead last time out at Virginia International Raceway, while Foley and Justin Rothberg enter the final two round of GT World Challenge America powered by AWS just four points out of the lead in the Pro class.

Never has a team won both a WeatherTech Championship and Pilot Challenge title in the same year, while it’s believed that a single team has never achieved three championships across two different U.S.-based pro sports car racing organizations before.

“I’m not superstitious but it’s one of those things where you don’t want to get your hopes up that you can continue to execute,” Turner told Sportscar365.

“You can see that anything can happen. Racing is unique because of that.

“In GTD, I think we’re a long shot, just based on our inability this year to win a race. It seems like you need to win a race to get the points to make it work.

“But our consistency has been great in GTD, so we’re going to continue just doing what we’re doing and see where it shakes out.

“In GS, my driver lineup of Dillon and Luca is awesome. That helps, as long as we can execute on pit lane. It really is in GS, it’s always a battle at the front.

“I’d argue that GS is more competitive than GTD at the front. Any weekend, there’s four different manufacturers that can win a GS race.

“Where in GTD, you see the same cars at the front.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us in GS as well. Behind us, we’ve got another BMW chomping at the bit and two to go limits things a little bit.”

When asked if anything’s changed this year to put the team in triple title contention, Turner said it’s more about what’s not changed.

“One of the benefits that I have in my team and doing this for so long is that I have the same people,” he said.

“My staff, on all the programs, are guys that have been with me for ten, 15, almost 18 years now.

“I think the consistency of the team off the track provides a great foundation. It’s just up to the driver pairings and a little luck to do it on the track.

“Having the same team weekend after weekend and the same guys at the shop, that takes out the inconsistency that some other teams may have.”

Turner Looking Forward to Double Points Indy 8 Hour GTWC America Finale

With the GTWC America season-ending Desder Indianapolis 8 Hour now confirmed to be scoring double points, Turner is hopeful that can play into their benefit as Foley and Rothberg chase their third consecutive class title, but first in the Pro division.

“If we were leading the championship in SRO going into Indy, we wouldn’t want it double [points],” Turner admitted. “But I think double makes it all the more exciting coming down to the last race.

“We had a bad points day at Road Atlanta. If not, we would be neck and neck going into the last two races, so we have a little bit of work cut out for us.

“Fortunately, and unfortunately, there’s not a lot of cars [in Pro]. So if do well, your competitor can only be fifth. If you don’t do well, then you’re only fifth.

“It helps and hurts. But I’m looking forward to the double points and coming back here and seeing if we can do a three-peat.

“That would be amazing and certainly beyond our expectations coming into this season because I consider Justin… We’re racing against [Silvers] that have ten years of experience on him.

“He’s still a kid but he’s been doing great this year.

“It’s exciting that Turner Motorsport can be coming down to the last two races in each series and potentially in championship hunt coming to the last one.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John