BMW M Team RLL Looking for a Turn Around at Lime Rock Park.

Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – July 12, 2022 . . . BMW M Team RLL will look to change its recent spate of bad luck at this weekend’s FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix, at Lime Rock Park, in Lakeville, Conn. The last two rounds of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have seen the No. 25 MOTUL BMW M4 GT3 disqualified from a win at Watkins Glen International and suffer an uncompetitive fifth place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 will be driven by Connor De Phillippi and John Edwards, the duo looking for their second podium (Laguna Seca, 3^rd) of the season. Lime Rock looks like the place to turn the season around as Edwards, who became a BMW driver in 2013, has three GT class victories (2010, 2012 and 2013) from two GT class poles (2012 and 2013) at Lime Rock. BMW Team RLL has totaled six podium finishes as the 1.5-mile, 7-turn circuit, including victories in 2011 and 2013.

Saturday’s two-hour-and-forty-minute race will be a GT only event with GTD PRO and GTD class cars making up the 15-car entry.

Connor De Phillippi (No. 25 MOTUL BMW M4 GT3): “Lime Rock is always one of the special tracks on the calendar. With what we’ve seen so far from our M4 GT3, I believe we will be right in the mix with the others compared to previous years. On top of that, we will be the top class during the weekend which will dramatically change the traffic dynamic. I’m looking forward to getting back on track with my BMW M Team RLL crew!”

John Edwards ( No. 25 MOTUL BMW M4 GT3): “We had some bad luck at Mosport which led to a poor result, but our car has been fast the past couple of weekends, so I feel like we have some good momentum coming into Lime Rock. It’s BMW’s home race and the first time we’ve been back since 2019 so the pressure is on to get a victory!”

The second half of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continues on Saturday, July 16^th at the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix, at Lime Rock Park, in Lakeville, Conn. The two-hour-and-forty-minute race takes the green flag at 3:05 p.m. and will be broadcast on USA beginning at 5 p.m. ET. IMSA Radio also provides a flag-to-flag broadcast.

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. 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, 105 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 Indianapolis, 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 31st season of competition in 2022, the team had compiled 54 victories, 66 poles, 222 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 and brought their total to 22 wins – including the 2019 and 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance races, 28

poles and 94 podium finishes prior to the start of the 2022 season. The team earned second-place finishes in the Manufacturer, Team, and Driver championships in 2015 and 2017 and were the 2020 Michelin North American Endurance Champions. For 2022, BMW M Team RLL will compete in the GTD Pro class while simultaneously ramping up for a two-car program in the much-anticipated LMDh class of IMSA for 2023.

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Journalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwusanews.com and www.press.bmwgroup.com/usa. 

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