BMW Media Site “BMW M Motorsport Super Weekend” at Sebring: Countdown Has Started to the First of Two Races. Contact: Thomas   Plucinsky thomas.plucinsky@bmwna.com   Oleg  Satanovsky oleg.satanovsky@bmwna.com     “BMW M Motorsport Super Weekend” at Sebring: Countdown Has Started to the First of Two Races. Sebring- March 15, 2019... The “BMW M Motorsport Super Weekend” at Sebring (USA) is in full swing. Thursday and Friday saw the qualifying sessions for the BMW M8 GTE in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 2019. The countdown is underway for the first of the two endurance races at the Sebring International Raceway. The sixth race of the WEC Super Season starts at 16:00 local time for BMW Team MTEK. In qualifying for the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, Augusto Farfus (BRA), António Félix da Costa (POR) and Bruno Spengler (CAN) secured fourth place in the LM GTE Pro class with the #82 BMW M8 GTE. Their team-mates Martin Tomczyk (GER), Nick Catsburg (NED) and Alexander Sims (GBR) will be starting the race from seventh position in the BMW Team MTEK #81 car. In the IMSA series, Jesse Krohn (FIN), John Edwards (USA) and Philipp Eng (AUT), in the BMW Team RLL #24 BMW M8 GTE, will start from sixth position in the GTLM class. The #25 BMW M8 GTE, driven by Tom Blomqvist (GBR), Connor De Phillippi (USA) and Colton Herta (USA), recorded a seventh-place finish in qualifying. “The stage is set for two thrilling races at the Sebring International Raceway,” said BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. “Our four BMW M8 GTEs in the WEC and IMSA series have made a good impression thus far. Our experience of Sebring tells us that the grid positions are not decisive. Both races will be long and tough, and the weather could yet have a few surprises in store on Saturday, but BMW Team MTEK and BMW Team RLL have both prepared excellently. Let’s get started with the two races over the ‘BMW M Motorsport Super Weekend’.” The WEC race starts on Friday at 16:00 local time (21:00 CET). The second race of the 2019 IMSA series, the 12 Hours of Sebring, then gets underway on Saturday at 10:40 local time (15:40 CET).  BMW Group In AmericaBMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975.  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003.  The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; Designworks, a strategic design consultancy based in California;  a technology office in Silicon Valley, and various other operations throughout the country.  BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is the BMW Group global center of competence for BMW X models and assembles the X3, X4, X5, X6 and X7 Sports Activity Vehicles as well as the BMW XM. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 349 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 145 BMW motorcycle retailers, 104 MINI passenger car dealers, and 38 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers.  BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.www.bmwgroup.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroupTwitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroupYouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupviewGoogle+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.comJournalist note: Information about BMW Group and its products in the USA is available to journalists on-line at www.bmwusanews.com, www.miniusanews.com and www.press.bmwna.com.