Ziegler, Curtis Confirmed as Turner PWC Drivers

Turner Motorsport announced Tuesday that Bill Ziegler and Bret Curtis will drive its two BMW Z4 GT3 cars in Pirelli World Challenge this year.

The No. 95 BMW will carry the well known Swisher Racing livery with the silver, matte black and burgundy while the No. 32 will feature a brand-new livery at Circuit of the Americas and St. Pete as part of a new partnership deal with a familiar Turner sponsor and race partner.

Ziegler, a Florida native and 2009 GT rookie of the year has been racing since 1998 and began SCCA racing in 2000.

In 2007 he was crowned the June Sprints Touring 2 winner and 2007 SCCA runoffs silver medalist in T2 and set the fastest lap of the T2 2008 National Championship race in 2008.

Ziegler finished 10th in the World Challenge GT Championship in 2009, earning Rookie of the Year recording two top-10 finished with a season best finish of eighth at Sebring.

In 2010 he finished 12th in GT Drivers’ Championship. Most recently in 2013, Ziegler competed in the Pirelli World Challenge GT class.

Curtis brings his endurance race experience and success to the No. 32 Turner BMW for 2015.

He has competed at tracks such as Monza, Silverstone, Paul Ricard and events such as the 12 Hours of Bathurst, 12 Hours of Sebring, 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours of Spa, and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“I’m looking forward to an exciting season in Pirelli World Challenge with Turner in a BMW for the first time,” Curtis said.

“Turner’s success with BMW has been proven with numerous professional wins and season championships giving our team every opportunity to compete with the best out there in PWC in 2015.”

In 2012 Curtis finished 2nd overall in the 12 Hours of Bathurst and 2nd in the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2009 Curtis recorded a 2nd place finish in ALMS GTC class at Long Beach and at Mid Ohio and a 4th place at Lime Rock.

Most recently in 2014 Curtis competed in five GT races with a top finish of 5th at Long Beach.

“It has really been a pleasure working with Bill and Bret on our Pirelli World Challenge program and we are excited to get these two Z4s out on track in their GT3 trim,” said team owner Will Turner.

“We have had great luck with the Pirelli World Challenge race format in the past so we are looking to have a great year.”

The 2015 Pirelli World Challenge season kicks off on March 6 in Austin. The team will test with both cars at COTA later this month before the season officially begins.

“Looking forward to getting on track this weekend at COTA and starting the season, the test will also be very useful in sorting things out for the big race weekend,” Turner added.

“We also have some new and exciting partnerships for this season, which we will announce later on this week.”