Turner Motorsport Pre-Sebring Report

Turner Motorsport’s two-car GTD program eagerly awaits round two of the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship following a long six-week break after the Rolex 24 at Daytona and world debut for the new BMW M6 GT3 in late January.

Turner returns to racing action for the Mobil1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida with both the No. 96 and No. 97 entries in the GTD field of twenty. The second stop on the 2016 calendar marks round two (of four) in the Patron North American Endurance Cup adding significance to the already important endurance contest.

Forty -nine entries in total are set to take the green flag on Saturday for the 64th annual running of the Sebring 12 Hour which surpasses car counts of the past two years, elevating competition levels across all classes, especially GTD with the highest car-count.

With an impressive fifth place finish in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the No. 97 M6 GT3 of Michael Marsal, Markus Palttala and Jesse Krohn will look to carry their momentum and points into this weekend’s battle on the historic 3.74 mile 17-turn Sebring International Raceway. Jesse Krohn will make his first-ever start at Sebring behind the wheel of the No. 97 Turner BMW.

“Daytona went extremely well with our new BMW M6 so our expectations are high going into round two this weekend at Sebring,” said Michael Marsal. “I know the team has been working hard over these last six weeks since Daytona to make sure we have the best possible platform in this new M6 so I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel with Markus (Palttala) and Jesse (Krohn).”

After a confident-instilling two-day test at Sebring three weeks ago, the No. 96 BMW M6 GT3 of Bret Curtis, Jens Klingmann and Ashley Freiberg will be looking to manage some strong results in the 12-hour contest. Both Klingmann and Freiberg will be making their first career starts at Sebring.

“Testing here at Sebring went extremely well in the M6 GT3,” commented Bret Curtis. “Since Daytona there have been several updates and improvements with the cars which we think will prove to be beneficial in the 12 Hour. My teammates Jens (Klingmann) and Ashley (Freiberg) are both at the top of their games so I’m really looking forward to go racing in our IHG Rewards Club No. 96 BMW.”

Currently the No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal M6 GT3 sits fifth in both the NAEC point’s standings as well as the WeatherTech Championship while the No. 96 sits 22nd in GTD.

“Daytona was a fantastic debut for the new M6 GT3 so we are looking forward to round two at Sebring,” added Will Turner. “Testing at Sebring a couple weeks ago proved to be extremely helpful in preparing for the unique and challenging track surface here. Both the engineers and drivers were able to take a lot away from the first-hand experience with the M6.”

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On track action will kick off on Thursday for testing. Tudor Championship practice and qualifying will take place on Friday, March 18th. Tune into IMSA.com for GTD qualifying at 3:15pm ET.

The Mobil1 64th Annual 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida will take the green flag on Saturday, March 19th at 10:30 am ET. Watch the two hour opening broadcast on Fox Sports 1 from 10:30am-12:30pm ET as well as the continued race broadcast on Fox Sports 2 and IMSA.com.