GT World Challenge Europe: ROWE Racing concludes an impressive Endurance Cup season.

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Barcelona. The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by
AWS Endurance Cup season concluded with the 3-hour race at Barcelona
(ESP). While the BMW M Motorsport teams didn’t achieve strong
results in the season finale, the ROWE Racing team looks back on an
impressive season. Philipp Eng (AUT), Marco Wittmann (GER) and Nick
Yelloly (GBR) celebrated fantastic victories at the 24 Hours of
Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) and the Monza (ITA) season opener. The
driver trio and the team both finish the season second in the
overall standings of the Endurance Cup for drivers and teams.

 

Although there was still a mathematical chance of the title before
the race, the pace of the #98 BMW M4 GT3 was not sufficient to attack
the top spot, as had been the case at the Nürburgring (GER) recently.
Eng, Wittmann and Yelloly finished in tenth place in the season
finale. The BMW Junior Team with BMW M works drivers Dan Harper (GBR),
Max Hesse (GER) and Neil Verhagen (USA) secured twelfth place. At
Monza, the trio celebrated their first podium finish in the series,
coming in second. Overall, ROWE Racing achieved two victories (Monza,
Spa-Francorchamps), one second place (Monza) and one third place (Le
Castellet) in the Endurance Cup in 2023.

The BMW M Team WRT couldn’t replicate the strong results they
regularly achieve in the Sprint Cup during their first year with the
BMW M4 GT3 in the endurance races. At Barcelona, Dries Vanthoor,
Charles Weerts (both BEL) and Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) managed to
secure eleventh place despite a damaged rear on their #32 BMW M4 GT3.
Valentino Rossi (ITA), Maxime Martin (BEL) and Augusto Farfus (BRA)
retired early in the #46 BMW M4 GT3. The #30 BMW M4 GT3 from the WRT
team finished fourth in the Gold Cup. In the Bronze Cup, the WRT team
#31 BMW M4 GT3 with BMW M works driver Jesse Krohn (FIN) and the #35
BMW M4 GT3 from Walkenhorst Motorsport finished in seventh and eighth positions.

The Sprint Cup season of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe
Powered by AWS with the BMW M Team WRT will conclude on
14th/15th October at Zandvoort (NED).

Reactions after the Endurance Cup season finale:

Hans-Peter Naundorf (Team Principal ROWE Racing):
“ROWE Racing looks back on a fantastic season – not only in the
GT World Challenge but also on the Nürburgring Nordschleife! We
started with an incredible streak of podium finishes, including a 1-2
finish at the opening race of the GT World Challenge at Monza. The
absolute highlight, of course, was our third overall victory at the 24
Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Many thanks to my entire team for the
great job and the tremendous effort, to BMW M Motorsport for providing
strong and reliable cars, and to all our drivers who, even in the
final races where we hoped for more performance for our cars in the
title fight, were always highly motivated and did a flawless job!”

Philipp Eng (#98 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE Racing, 10th
place):
“Even though the ending didn’t go as planned, it
was an overall great season. We became vice-champions and won the most
important race of the year at Spa-Francorchamps. Thanks to the team
and BMW M Motorsport! We had an incredibly reliable car with no
technical issues throughout the season. Plus, I had great teammates,
both in the #98 and the sister car. Ultimately, our disappointing
weekend at the Nürburgring set us back significantly in the title
race, and we couldn’t recover it here at Barcelona. Congratulations to
the Mercedes crew!”

Max Hesse (#998 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE Racing, 12th
place):
“The overall assessment of our second season in
the GT World Challenge is positive. We made significant progress
compared to the first year and maintained a consistently good pace.
The podium at Monza was the highlight, while our retirement at
Spa-Francorchamps was, of course, a disappointment. That caused us to
lose touch with the top spots in the overall standings.”

Sheldon van der Linde (#32 BMW M4 GT3, BMW M Team WRT,
11th place):
“This is the end of a
challenging Endurance Cup season for us. We always had the pace in the
races, but we faced problems in qualifying. We must improve that
because when you often have to start from so far back, it’s tough to
make your way to the front in the races.”

 

Valentino Rossi (#46 BMW M4 GT3, BMW M Team WRT, DNF):
“I made a small mistake at the exit of Turn 7 unfortunately.
I went too far onto the kerb and was a bit too aggressive. As a
result, I lost control of the car. That’s a shame. The first stint was
overall quite eventful, but my pace was good, and I was closely
following the other BMWs. We could have achieved a good result.”

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