Jeff Seabrook

Munich . Sylvia Neubauer will become the new head of Customer, Brand and Sales for BMW M GmbH at the beginning of October 2023. Neubauer, who was previously responsible for the brand portfolio strategy as well as market research and competitive analysis for all brands of the BMW Group, will thus succeed Timo Resch, who has held the position since January 2022 and is now leaving the company at his own request.

"Timo Resch has made a significant contribution to the strengthening of our sales and marketing activities and thus to the success of BMW M GmbH with his excellent commitment in the past two years. We thank him for his excellent work and wish him every success for his future tasks," says Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH. In 2022, BMW M GmbH achieved record sales with more than 177,000 vehicles sold worldwide and is also on track to set a new record in the current fiscal year.

Sylvia Neubauer looks forward to her new tasks with enthusiasm: "I am delighted that I can now combine my passion for BMW M vehicles even more strongly with my profession and make a decisive contribution to mastering the challenges that lie ahead of us in these exciting times," says Sylvia Neubauer. The focus of the current and future development of the brand with the strongest letter in the world is particularly on the consistent continuation of its path towards e-mobility and the marketing of performance and high-performance models with electrified drive.

"With Sylvia Neubauer, we have an experienced sales and marketing expert by our side, who brings a solid background in brand repositioning BMW M, data analytics, and customer journey from her previous positions," explains Franciscus van Meel. "We couldn't imagine a better choice to advance the transformation process of BMW M GmbH and strengthen the worldwide fan community of our brand."

Indianapolis. On the penultimate race weekend of the season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IMSA series) at Indianapolis (USA), there was plenty of reason to celebrate for the BMW M Motorsport teams. Connor De Phillippi (USA) and Nick Yelloly (GBR) secured a spot on the podium by finishing third in the 2-hour and 40-minute race in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 of BMW M Team RLL. It marked the duo’s fifth podium finish in the debut season of the GTP class. In the GTD category, Paul Miller Racing drivers Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers (both USA) clinched the GTD title prematurely with a third-place finish in the #1 BMW M4 GT3, simultaneously defending the Sprint Cup championship they had won in 2022 .

While De Phillippi and Yelloly fought their way to the podium from the seventh starting position during the course of 113 laps on the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway, their teammates in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 had a stroke of bad luck. After just nine laps, Philipp Eng (AUT) had to pit due to technical issues. It wasn't until two further stops that the electric problems of the LMDh car could be solved, allowing Eng and Augusto Farfus (BRA) to continue the race with a significant deficit. They were ultimately classified as tenth in the GTP class. In the overall standings of the IMSA series, De Phillippi and Yelloly are currently in fourth place with 2422 points each, just 38 points behind the leaders, ahead of the season finale on 14^th October in Road Atlanta (USA).

In the GTD category, Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers secured the title win one race before the end of the season. The third-place finish on the Indianapolis podium was enough for the Paul Miller Racing drivers to become champions in both the GTD overall standings and the Sprint Cup, which they had won in 2022. On their way to the title, Snow and Sellers celebrated five class victories in the #1 BMW M4 GT3, more than any other team in the GTD class before. At Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans in October, they now have the chance to win the Endurance Cup title as well. At Indianapolis, the two BMW M4 GT3s from Turner Motorsport finished fifth and seventh in the GTD category.

Reactions after the race: