Nürburgring. An impressive series of podiums for the BMW M
Motorsport teams came to an end at the Nürburgring (GER), in the
sixth event of the season in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe
Powered by AWS. The three-hour race, the fourth event in the
Endurance Cup, saw no BMW M4 GT3 reach the top 3 in the overall
standings for the first time this season. Previously, ROWE Racing
had secured two wins in the Endurance Cup (Monza, ITA, and
Spa-Francorchamps, BEL) and one third place (Le Castellet, FRA). In
the four previous Sprint Cup races at Brands Hatch (GBR) and Misano
(ITA), the BMW M Team WRT had celebrated one win, one second place
and four third-place finishes. This time, the #32 BMW M4 GT3
recorded the best result in seventh place.
Starting from 17th on the grid after a challenging qualifying session
in the rain, WRT drivers Charles Weerts, Dries Vanthoor (both BEL) and
Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) put on a strong chasing performance to
reach seventh place. The second-best BMW M Motorsport crew was the BMW
Junior Team, in eleventh position with BMW M works drivers Dan Harper
(GBR), Max Hesse (GER) and Neil Verhagen (USA). They had battled their
way up from 31st on the grid.
Spa winners Philipp Eng (AUT), Marco Wittmann (GER) and Nick Yelloly
(GBR) endured an unfortunate race. Having started from tenth place,
Wittmann bumped into several cars after being boxed in at the first
corner. He battled on and was later clipped by a spinning Lamborghini.
This resulted in damage to the left side of the bodywork and the
diffuser, robbing the car of much of its pace. The trio did manage to
reach the finishing line in 15th place. Missing out on the points has
cost Eng, Wittmann and Yelloly the lead in the overall standings for
the Endurance Cup. They are now aiming to return to the top at the
season finale in Barcelona (ESP) on 1st October.
Augusto Farfus (BRA), Maxime Martin (BEL) and Valentino Rossi (ITA)
finished empty-handed at the Nürburgring. They suffered radiator
damage after colliding with a lapped car.
No-one reached the rostrum in the overall standings but there was one
podium to celebrate in the Gold Cup. Niklas Krütten (GER),
Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (FRA) and Calan Williams (AUS) crossed the
line in third place in their class in the #30 BMW M4 GT3 for the WRT
team. The #31 BMW M4 GT3 with BMW M works driver Jens Klingmann (GER),
Darren Leung and Lewis Proctor (both GBR) at the wheel, secured sixth
spot in the Bronze Cup. The #35 car from Walkenhorst Motorsport,
driven by Thomas Neubauer (FRA), Anders Buchardt (NOR) and James Kell
(GBR) finished the race in 14th place in the Bronze Cup.
Reactions after the race.
Dries Vanthoor (#32 BMW M4 GT3, BMW M Team WRT, 7th place):
“We couldn’t have done any better with the speed we had this
weekend, especially considering the start we had, where we dropped
back to 30th place. Finishing seventh is a good result, and hopefully
we can battle for the win again at the next race.”
Dan Harper (#998 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE Racing, 11th place):
“To be honest, after that qualifying and being 31st on the
grid, we didn’t have a chance. Generally, the BMW M4 GT3 didn’t have
the pace that it showed in the previous races. However, the WRT cars
also seemed to be faster than we were. The team worked perfectly and
made no mistakes, so thanks very much for that!”
Marco Wittmann (#98 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE Racing, 15th place):
“This was a disappointing race for us, as we scored no points
and at the same time, the win went to our main rival for the Endurance
title. Obviously, that puts us in a very difficult position for the
final race in Barcelona. Our car had light damage from the start and
suffered some very bad damage after the collision with the
Lamborghini. The whole left side and the diffuser were smashed up. But
in general, we have to admit that we could not keep pace with the
speed of our rivals here.”
Maxime Martin (#46 BMW M4 GT3, BMW M Team WRT, DNF):
“Naturally we had expected the weekend to go differently,
retiring after a collision with a lapped car is disappointing. The
blue flags were waving but no-one took any notice of them. As long as
there is no punishment for that, similar accidents will continue to
occur. That is a great shame.”
