Foley Aiming to ‘Maximize Points Situation’ in GTD Title Race

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Robby Foley says he and co-driver Patrick Gallagher are looking to “maximize” their “points situation” for the final stretch to the GTD title in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The Turner Motorsport BMW duo head into the final three races of the season second in the championship, although 268 points behind Winward Racing’s Russell Ward and Philip Ellis, who have dominated the class from the start of the season.

Foley and Gallagher, however, are coming off their first class win of the season last time out at Road America and have scored top-five finishes in each of the last five races.

“We’ve had a strong season,” said Foley. “The 57 (Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) has obviously been very strong as well with their lead in the points.

“It was nice to get a win at Road America after a couple ‘shoulda, coulda, woulda’ races with Laguna where we finished second and probably should have won that one, and some unfortunate circumstances at Mosport as well.

“It was nice to get the monkey off our back.

“The whole team has been executing really well. Finishing in the top-five is how you win championships and that’s been our goal, just to maximize our points situation.

“Heading into VIR, we have always been strong there, BMWs in particular. I’m looking forward to heading back there.

“With it being a GT-only race, it changes the dynamic a little bit. We’re probably less likely to have yellows and things like that.

“Hopefully we can play to our strengths with our M4 GT3 and have a strong weekend.”

When asked by Sportscar365 on the points scenario, and the uphill battle to the Winward entry, Foley said they aren’t going to change their aproach.

“I think for us, we’ll just keep it simple and keep operating like we have been,” he said

“You don’t want to get desperate, especially as we head into the last sprint [race] of the year.

“When we get to the endurance races, the car counts are always a bit higher, so an average day or a bad day ends up being a little bit worse.

“I read a stat the other day that we essentially scored the same points as the 57 in the last five races, I think one less point.

“Daytona and Sebring left us a bit of a deficit. But I think as a team, we’ll just continue to execute well and not try and do anything too fancy to hinder our chances.

“I think as we all know, Petit Le Mans is a crazy race. Anything can happen there when the sun goes down, so we just want to go there with a shot and we’ll keep trying to claw back some points on the 57.”

Fanatec GT America Experience Providing a “Welcomed Advantage” This Year

Foley said his and Turner’s dual GT3 program, by also racing in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, oftentimes on the same tracks, has come as an advantage over the course of the season.

The two championships share four of the same circuits, including VIR, which Foley and the Will Turner-led squad contested last month.

He said: “The two tires between the two championships are pretty different but there are certainly things on the car that translates, specifically at Road America, we found a really nice sweet spot with our car there, that worked well last weekend too.

“VIR we had great pace [last month] in another championship. But certain things, fundamentals with the car, you can carry over, just adjusting for Michelins.

“At least personally for me, last year I didn’t do as much racing as this year, so it’s nice to be driving all the time. And when you can drive the same car at the same track, it’s just more mileage and more testing items you can tick off.

“I’d say it’s definitely been a welcomed advantage this year.”

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