BMW DRIVERS SHINE AT THE DIAMOND CELLAR CLASSIC WITH ONE WIN, THREE TOP-FIVE'S AND THREE TOP-10'S ACROSS FOUR CLASSES

June 18, 2013 by BMW

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – June 17, 2013 . . . BMW drivers totaled one victory, three top-five and three top-10 finishes across four class of competition at Saturday's GRAND-AM Diamond Cellar Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, in Lexington, Ohio.

The day's outstanding performance was delivered by Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana who co-drove the No. 96 Turner Motorsport Grand Sport class BMW M3 to second in the morning's 2.5-hour Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) race. In the afternoon, the duo won the Grand Touring class in the 2.75-hour Rolex Sports Car Series race in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. The victory was the second of the season for the pair. The first came at Circuit of the Americas in March. Coincidently, Auberlen and Dalla Lana won both classes that weekend. Season-long driver Dalla Lana now stands fourth in points. The No. 93 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 of Michael Marsal and Billy Johnson finished sixth.

Additional top-five BMW results in the CTSCC race were posted by the No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 of Mark Boden and Bryan Sellers who finished fourth in GS. The No. 56 RACE EPIC/Murillo Racing BMW 328i of Jesse Combs and Jeff Mosing finished fourth in the ST class after starting from the pole position. The No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i of Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra finished sixth to keep LaMarra first in ST driver points. BMW continues to lead ST Manufacturer points.

In the Daytona Prototype class, the No. 42 Team Sahlen BMW Riley of Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnamaker finished eighth. The sister Team Sahlen BMW Riley of Joe Nonnamaker and Joe Sahlen finished 12th. The No. 01 CGRFS BMW Riley of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas finished 11th. After scoring zero points at Detroit the three-time Daytona Prototype co-champions now stand seventh in driver points.

'Congratulations to Turner Motorsport for another outstanding race weekend with podiums in both the Rolex and Continental series' said Gordon McDonnell, BMWNA Motorsport Manager. 'Bill and Paul gave two excellent performances in their BMW M3's and kept the Mid-Ohio crowd on their feet till the very end. BMW drivers in the Continental Series continue to run strong with Mike LaMarra and BMW holding down first in the Street Tuner field.'

BMW drivers in both the Rolex and Continental Series will next compete at Watkins Glen International on June 29-30 at the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen weekend. The Rolex race will be televised live on SPEED Sunday, June 30th beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. The CTSCC race will be broadcast on Sunday, July 6 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

BMW Group In America

BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 118 MINI passenger car dealers, and 34 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.