Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – July 9, 2023 . . . The No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly, scored a third-place finish by way of a clever strategy at today’s Chevrolet Grand Prix, to record the team’s fourth podium of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar season and 100th podium in the team’s history. The duo completed 119 laps of the 2.459-mile, 10-turn Canadian Tire Motorsports Park circuit in the two-hour-and-forty-minute event, finishing some 19 seconds behind the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 under the races fourth caution period.
Pitting very early on lap 14 for fuel only, starting driver Yelloly jumped off sequence from the eight other GTP class competitors and as the field made their first pit stops cycled into the lead. Without the hoped-for caution period that could have kept the car in front, he handed off to De Phillippi on lap 55 under green. That first caution occurred on lap 66 and De Phillippi pitted for fuel only on lap 68. The race endured three more cautions in the last one-hour-and-forty minutes allowing De Phillippi to move into third and clinch the last podium position as the race ended under yellow with the race’s final caution.
So far this year, the No. 25 car has scored a win (Watkins Glen), two runner-up finishes (Sebring and Long Beach), and a third (CTMP). De Phillippi and Yelloly stand second in GTP driver point standings and BMW stands second in GTP class manufacturer points.
Augusto Farfus and Philipp Eng endured a difficult day to finish eighth. Mired in the rear of the field for the majority of the race, the duo had little luck moving up, both drivers incurring a drive-through penalty in their stints. Farfus and Eng stand eighth in driver points, with a season’s-best fourth-place finish (Long Beach) in the No. 24 car.
Bobby Rahal, Team Principal said, “I'm really impressed. The guys with the No. 25 car pulled off a great strategy. We weren't the fastest car by any means and yet, our strategy really worked out and Connor did a great job of staying ahead of everybody at the end. It just shows you that you can never count yourself out. Anything can happen. We had had a bunch of yellows right at the end and that certainly worked in our favor. I think this does great things for us in the points as well.”
Connor De Phillippi, driver No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (P3): “Well, another podium for us in the No. 25 car, so it was a good day. Obviously, we didn't have quite the pace that we needed so the team tried a great strategy and with a little bit of luck, we managed to get up in the top three, and at the end, we were able to hang on to hold position and keep the podium streak alive. So proud of everybody on the team to put us in this position and happy it all worked out today. And yeah, we'll focus on Road America and try to come back with a better performance and be ready to fight for win on the next event.”
Nick Yelloly, driver No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 (P3): “P3 here today was not expected to be honest. We really struggled all weekend with the car being quite difficult to drive particularly over the bumps at a track that we've not been to before. So, this was as good as we could have hoped for. Great job by the strategy team. Great job by Conner to obviously keep it on the black part. It was quite difficult to do. And yeah, thanks to BMW for all the effort. Of course, it's a good way to get to have my first experience at Mosport and hopefully when we come back next year, we are even more competitive.”
Philipp Eng, driver No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 (P8): “Unfortunately, quite an unlucky race for us. The yellows didn't work for our race. But on the flip side, anything can happen, and we saw it again with the No. 25. They had trouble free race. They had good pace and finished on the podium, so many congratulations to the team. But for us, in the No. 24 unfortunately quite unlucky, but we need to focus forward.”
Augusto Farfus, driver No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 (P8): “I think today we just tried to do the maximize with what we had. Unfortunately, we were not lucky with the strategy so then there was not much to do. In the last stint, I tried to push as hard as I could to make some positions, but we didn't have enough, and this track is very difficult to overtake. So, we take the lesson, take the mileage, and we focus on the next race.”
In the GT Daytona class, Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow increased their GTD driver points lead with their third win (Sebring, Long Beach, and CTMP) of the season for the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull finished fifth in the Turner Motorsport No. 97 McIntosh BMW M4 GT3. The Turner Motorsport No. 96 LIQUI-MOLY BMW M4 GT3, of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher, ended its race on lap 86 after a collision damaged the left front suspension. The car was credited with a 13th place finish.
Round seven for the GTD class BMWs will take place at Lime Rock Park on July 22nd. The two-hour-and-forty-minute race will be streamed live on Peacock. Round seven, and Round eight for the GTD class BMWs, of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the GTP class takes place at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wis., August 6th. The two-hour-and-forty-minute race will be televised live on USA beginning at 11:00 a.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 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and manufactures the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles as well as the BMW XM. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 350 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers,146 BMW motorcycle retailers, 104 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 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.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
BMW’s partner, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, based in Zionsville, Indiana and co-owned by three-time INDYCAR Champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, former CBS Late Show host David Letterman and Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan, has been competing for over three decades. Prior to the start of their 32nd season of competition in 2023 and their 15th with BMW, the team had compiled 54 victories, 67 poles, 225 podium finishes, three series championships (1992, 2010, 2011), claimed two Indianapolis 500 victories (Buddy Rice in 2004, Takuma Sato in 2020) and two Rolex 24 at Daytona victories. In 2009 the team joined BMW of North America to campaign the new BMW M3 in the American Le Mans Series. The following year the team won both the Manufacturer and Team Championships in the GT category and swept all three GT titles - Manufacturer, Team, and Driver – in 2011. In 2012, the team finished second in the Team Championship and third in the Manufacturer Championship and in 2013, the team finished second in the Driver, Team, and Manufacturer Championship. From 2014 to 2021, BMW Team RLL competed in the GTLM class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a two-car program. In 2022, BMW M Team RLL competed in the GTD PRO class in
IMSA while simultaneously ramping up for a two-car program in the much-anticipated GTP class in IMSA for 2023. In total, the team has earned 22 wins – including the 2019 and 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance races, 30 poles and 96 podium finishes prior to the start of the 2023 season. BMW M Team RLL highlights also include second-place finishes in the Manufacturer, Team, and Driver championships in 2015 and 2017 and being named the 2020 Michelin North American Endurance Champions.
