Speedvision Cup Car of the Year

From: Judy Stropus Subject: BMW 328is Wins 2 Speedvision Cup Titles

BMW 328is Wins Speedvision Cup Manufacturer's Championship And Car Of The Year Title

Woodcliff Lake, N.J.; Oct. 22, 1997: The BMW 328is, winner of every Sports-class race except one in its first full year of competition, clinched the 1997 Speedvision Cup "Car of the Year" honors and the manufacturer's title at Pikes Peak International R aceway on Sept. 27, the eighth round of the nine-race series sanctioned by Professional SportsCar Racing Inc. This is the first "Car of the Year" honor earned by BMW and the first manufacturer's championship since 1986, when the BMW 325e won the Sports class title. Two teams contributed to these titles with wins this season: McMillin Motorsports, winner at Daytona (Jeff McMillin and Marc Lawrence) and Mosport (McMillin and Derek Hill). Franz Blam Racing has claimed six victories: Sebring in March (Mike Doolin an d Scott Peeler), Road Atlanta (Mike Fitzgerald and Anthony Lazzaro), Sears Point (Fitzgerald and Jeff Purner), Las Vegas (Doolin and Peeler), Pikes Peak (Fitzgerald and Lazzaro), Sebring in October (Fitzgerald and Lazzaro). McMillin claimed the Sports Class driver's championship and Fitzgerald received the Rising Star Award. "We are very pleased to win these two championships and congratulate all the BMW teams in Speedvision Cup," said Erik Wensberg, M Brand Manager, BMW of North America, Inc. "We have a good solid contingency program for private customer teams that we have offered for more than 10 years. Many teams have come to know that they can count on the support of BMW." The Speedvision Cup for Stock SportsCars completed its 13th season of competition in Sebring on Oct. 17. The series is open to "stock" cars, including American, Japanese and European sports coupes and sedans, with limited performance modifications added. All cars run on unleaded 93 octane fuel and on high-performance tires with treads shaved to race depth.

Four classes make up the Speedvision Cup: Grand Sports, Sports, Touring and Compact. BMW models compete in three of them: the M3 in Grand Sports, the 328is in Sport, and the Z3 in Touring.

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Color Photo of the BMW 328is race car is available on the Internet on the goracing.com home page (www.goracing.com) in "PRESS RELEASES" section. It may also be downloaded from Library 2 (SportsCar News) on the Motorsports B Forum (RACEB) on Compuserve.

BMW M3 WINS SPEEDVISION CUP SEASON FINALE. Javier Quiros and Terry Borcheller took the No. 54 Cast-Crete/Syntec Concepts BMW M3 to the model's second overall and Grand Sports class win in the 1997 Speedvision Cup for Stock SportsCars at the NAPA Auto Par ts Sebring Octoberfest in Florida on Fri., Oct. 17. The Sebring event was the final race of the year. -end-