Motorsports Brands - BMW To Present GRAND-AM Finale Weekend At Lime Rock Park

Woodcliff Lake, Sep. 13, 2012: Grand American Road Racing, BMW of North America, LLC and Lime Rock Park announced today that BMW of North America will be the presenting sponsor of the September 28-29th GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series Championship Finale weekend. This exciting event’s name will be the “GRAND-AM Championship Weekend at Lime Rock Park presented by BMW.”

BMW of North America and Lime Rock Park have been fast friends for more than two decades. Considered its home track, BMW is the Official Car of Lime Rock Park and supplies all of the circuit’s official vehicles.

On July 6th, the BMW M3 Coupe Lime Rock Park Edition was announced in honor of the longstanding relationship. In October the first of the 200 limited edition Fire Orange coupes will be delivered. The weekend’s championship races will be paced by the iconic BMW M3.

“BMW and Lime Rock Park have been working together for more than 25 years and we are proud to support the GRAND-AM finale weekend at such an historic track,” said Larry Koch, BMW NA Motorsport Manager. “We look forward to an exciting weekend of racing.”

Skip Barber, Lime Rock Park’s president, said, “We are extremely pleased that BMW has sponsored the GRAND-AM race weekend. Lime Rock and BMW have a long and valued relationship, and this presenting sponsorship is, I think, a perfect fit. There is a lot of excitement building up surrounding GRAND-AM’s season finale here, especially with its typically close point standings. When drivers and teams know they have just one chance to grab a title, well, it changes things in the cockpit – and in pit lane. The fans are going to get

In the ultra-competitive GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, which consists of Daytona Prototypes, Grand Touring cars and the action-packed Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series, no less than 11 season championships will be decided in the GRAND-Am finale at Lime Rock on September 28 and 29.

BMW drivers participate in every class of GRAND-AM’s Rolex Sports Car and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and, in recent years, have raced to great success. Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas have driven the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW powered Riley to a sweep of the Daytona Prototype class Engine Manufacturer, Team and Driver championships for two consecutive seasons. The duo brings a 13 point lead in the 2012 Driver standings to Lime Rock Park. In the Rolex GT class Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana have won two races this season in the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3. Last year Dalla Lana won the CTSCC Grand Sport Driver’s title with a Turner Motorsport M3. He was also awarded the 2011 BMW Sport Trophy as the most successful privateer BMW driver in the world. BMW currently stands second in the CTSCC Grand Sport class and leads the Street Tuner class.

In Rolex Sports Car, the DP Driver, Team, Engine and Chassis titles are all up for grabs. In GT, the Manufacturer championship is still being fought for; last weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato clinched the Drivers’ title and their team, AIM Autosport Team FXDD, clinched the team championship.

In the Continental Tire Sports Car Series, the Driver, Team and Manufacturer points chases are all wide open in both the GS and ST divisions.

The GRAND-AM Championship Weekend at Lime Rock Park presented by BMW will include three championship races. The 2.5-hour Continental Tire Challenge Street Tuner race will take the green flag at 3:20 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28th. The 2.5 hour Grand Sport race will start at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 29th. The 2.75-hour Rolex Sports Car Series race will start at 3:00 p.m. and be televised live on SPEED television. The ST race will be broadcast on SPEED Saturday, Oct. 13th at 12 p.m. ET. The GS race will be broadcast on SPEED Sunday, Oct. 14th at 1 p.m. ET.