BMW "furious" about Rolex 24 penalty

Last Friday, IMSA announced penalties for both Ferrari and BMW because the Ferrari 296 GT3 and the BMW M4 GT3 “demonstrated performance in the Daytona 24 Hour Race exceeded IMSA's expectations as shared in the GT Manufacturers Technical Working Groups.” Both manufacturers were stripped of manufacturer points for both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Endurance Cup. Additionally, both manufacturers were fined $25,000. The points for teams and drivers were not altered.

Risi Competizione won GTD PRO at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with its Ferrari, and Ferrari's finished second-fourth in GTD. Paul Miller Racing's BMW was fighting at the front in its GTD PRO debut until a brake problem relegated the car to third.

In response, BMW M Motorsport has issued a statement denying any intention to game the Balance of Performance system or disguise the performance of the M4 GT3 in the process.

“The IMSA Technical Committee has informed us that BMW M Motorsport will be stripped of the manufacturer points earned at Daytona in both the GTD and GTD PRO classes and fined $25,000US due to allegedly ‘exceeding the performance window,’” the statement said.

“We at BMW of North America and BMW M Motorsport are furious by this action, as we assure you that we, as well as our customer racing teams, have been completely open and transparent with IMSA about our performance during the Roar and Rolex 24. We did not cheat the BoP process and do not deserve this extremely harsh penalty.

“Furthermore, the performance of our cars, now in their third season of IMSA racing, are completely known entities. They should be one of the baseline benchmarks for the GTD and GTD PRO fields. Our performance at Daytona should absolutely not be in question. From our perspective, there was fair and sporting competition on the track, with in the end, three manufacturers on the podium. We at BMW NA and BMW M Motorsport will investigate the topic in detail and continue to have serious discussions with IMSA about this penalty assessment."