DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Most Formula 1 teams and a few of the larger NASCAR organizations have created driver development programs to identify and provide opportunity to what they hope will be the stars of the future.
Will Turner and Turner Motorsport are applying the same principle across IMSA’s diverse sports car racing platform that includes the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the Michelin Pilot Challenge and the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge.
At the upcoming Michelin GT Challenge weekend at Virginia International Raceway, all three programs are in action on the same weekend for only the second time this season.
Since 1998, Turner Motorsport has fielded BMWs in more races than any other team in the world, and with great success, winning 10 championships.
For eras spanning more than two decades, Turner’s anchor driver was Bill Auberlen, IMSA’s all-time record holder with 65 race wins in IMSA’s top-level series.
In 2018, Turner paired Auberlen, then 49, with 23-year-old Robby Foley for a partial season in the Grand Touring Daytona class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
From 2019-22, they formed an effective full-time partnership. They won seven races and finished in the top five of the GTD standings every year, including runner-up in 2019.
As a result of their success, Foley’s FIA Driver Rating was elevated from Silver to Gold, meaning he could no longer be teamed with Auberlen (also then Gold-rated) in the GTD class.
Waiting in the wings was Patrick Gallagher, three years Foley’s senior but a longtime friend, only absent the same volume of top-series sports car experience.
Foley proved to be a great mentor, as he and Gallagher notched three second place finishes on the way to fourth in the GTD standings of the WeatherTech Championship.
Foley’s leadership was also reflected in two race wins and the Grand Sport class championship he shared with Vin Barletta that season in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
“Right off the bat we recognized that Robby had some talent, but it wasn’t focused because he was jumping in every car he could be in just to be racing,” observed Turner; Foley regularly drove two Turner BMWs on most weekends for several years. “Bill Auberlen and the team helped him ramp up on a fast track to being the pro driver that he is today.”
Gallagher described his and Foley’s friendship and dynamic as co-drivers in their No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO: “Robby and I have been best friends for 10 or 15 years now; we both moved into some terrible rental house with air mattresses in Monticello, N.Y., a long time ago, and have kind of made the climb together.”
One of team’s other emerging drivers is Francis Selldorff, who joined the Turner organization in 2023.
In the inaugural year of the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, he won the Grand Sport X class championship in a BMW M4 GT4 before advancing to GS in the Michelin Pilot Challenge in a Turner entry paired with Foley.
Now 24, Selldorff is teamed this year with Dillon Machavern in Turner’s No. 95 BMW M4 GT4 EVO Michelin Pilot Challenge entry. He broke through for his first win in the category in June at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and Turner gives the now seasoned veteran Foley credit for assisting in the achievement.
“Robby and I immediately looked at each other after maybe the first hour of testing Francis and said, ‘This kid’s got some talent. He just needs some direction,’” Turner said. “With Robby’s mentorship – he’s awesome on the radio, he’s awesome on the data, and obviously he’s a super-fast driver – to have that tool in the box and then to combine it with our experienced team – we’re giving Francis all the tools for success. We’re expecting big things from him, and we already have our eyes on the next guys too.”
In the course of five years, Foley went from Turner Motorsport’s rookie driver to the hardened campaigner that holds it all together, as well as a coach and strategist on the pit box in races he’s not driving.
“It’s been fun, and an interesting process,” he reflected. “Obviously with Bill Auberlen’s extensive experience and legendary track record, I learned a ton from him and got to race with him for five years. When Bill basically didn’t have a place to race at Turner anymore because of my driver rating, the baton was passed.
“Now I’ve worked with Francis for a few years, and Patrick Gallagher, who I’ve known for a long time, just helping him adjust to GT cars,” Foley continued. “Francis has come such a long way in a short time. His great performance at Mid-Ohio was big for his confidence in his career. He’s still very new at this; he only started racing properly like two years ago. So, for him to already be at a race-winning level in GS is pretty impressive against a lot of impressive drivers.”
Foley and Gallagher have had new youngster Jake Walker, who’s coached by 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice, as third driver in Michelin Endurance Cup races for two seasons.
He’s matching Selldorff’s promise in VP Racing SportsCar Challenge competition with four Grand Touring Daytona X wins in the last five races in Turner’s BMW M4 GT3.
“Jake’s great. He’s a young kid and got a good family; he just kind of fit right in seamlessly to be honest with you,” Gallagher said. “The last thing we have to worry about with him is all the on-track stuff. It was just coaching him up on how to get in the pit box and all the little things that do make a difference.”
Foley recognizes how rare it is for a sports car team to have an internal ladder system, and he’s grateful for the role that Turner’s constant quest to create champion sports car drivers played in his career.
“I think Will has done a great job to build a team and program that is conducive to that,” Foley said. “He prepares good cars, consistent cars, and gives young drivers the kind of environment where they are the variable. They can learn from more experienced guys like myself and the other BMW drivers that join us from time to time.
“I’ve been the benefactor of it myself, for sure, and now it’s a lot of fun to kind of trickle it down to the new guys.”
NASCAR Cup Series
