With a two-year winless drought broken at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Turner Motorsport comes into Road Atlanta chasing an unprecedented three-title sweep. Over the next two weeks, team owner Will Turner stands on the brink of what could be his most successful year to date across major North American sports car racing, anchored by star driver Robby Foley and a squad targeting titles across three distinct series.
The momentum shifted dramatically at Indy, where Foley and co-driver Patrick Gallagher snapped the team's two-year drought by driving the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO to victory, putting them within six points of the IMSA GTD championship lead.
“We had a really strong Indy, which was great, kind of put us more in the championship picture,” Foley said. “We were always kind of there, thereabouts, but I feel like the last couple years with the #57 (Winward Racing) sort of dominating, you have to win a race or two or three to really be in the conversation. It was nice to get a good haul of points there. Obviously, they (the #57) finished second, so we didn't close too much of a gap.”
That win sets up a closely contested finale this weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Foley, Gallagher, and endurance co-driver Francis Selldorff enter trailing GTD points leaders Russell Ward and Philip Ellis in the Winward Racing entry by just six points. Heading into his 94th WeatherTech start – and his ninth appearance at Road Atlanta, where he won on his debut in 2019 – Foley knows the margin for Turner’s first GTD championship since 2014 will be paper-thin.
“I think it's gonna come down to just having a good, clean race,” Foley added. “That's been our M.O. all season. It’s always being in and around the top five and around the podium. For us, it's really no different. It's just another race, but in the end, we're definitely going to be focused on what the #57 car is doing in qualifying, and in the end, it could come down to one position. We were strong there last year in terms of pace. The race didn't quite work out. We had an incident or two that kind of took us out of the front, but yeah, just another race for us and we'll keep up the same mentality as what's got us to this position.”
The GTD title battle is only the middle leg of an incredible gauntlet. The first title will be decided Friday at Road Atlanta, where Turner drivers Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars – piloting the #95 Turner BMW M4 GT4 EVO – enter the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class finale second in points. Following Road Atlanta, Turner heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for SRO’s Indianapolis 8 Hour race, where Foley and co-driver Justin Rothberg step up to challenge for the Pro class championship after capturing back-to-back Pro-Am titles.
While Turner Motorsport has captured titles in all three series over its history, the team has never won all three in the same year. Asked what leading two of those efforts and potentially sweeping all three would mean, Foley credited the continuity behind the scenes:
“Yeah, it'd be amazing. It's always the goal, right? You start out, I'm lucky to drive in all three programs and you always start the season with those ambitions,” Foley said. “Over the past couple years, we've been fortunate to win a championship in one of those three programs the last three years. So that's been great. But yeah, to be kind of in contention in all three is amazing. It's just a testament to how hard everybody works. There's a lot of crossover between programs so it's great to have all that continuity within the team.
“And since I've been there, which is, been a while now, there's really not been much turnover. We have a lot of the same core group of people that, year in and year out, we just try to improve on little things, and I think we've made a major step in our performance in GTD this year with the new Evo car, that's crossed over to other programs as well. So, to summarize, it'd be amazing. I'm not sure if anybody's done it before, I don't think it's been done, but to win one of three would be amazing, but we'll try to… we'll try to do all three.”
Turner still faces close championship battles in each category, but the team's remarkable season-long consistency makes an unprecedented championship trifecta a distinct
possibility.
