Nick Catsburg, John Edwards, Philipp Eng, and Nick Yelloly in the #1 Rowe Racing M6 GT3 finished eighth in the six-hour qualifying race for the Nürburgring 24. The overall win went to Frederic Makowiecki, Patrick Pilet, Maxime Martin, and Dennis Olsen in the #31 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The #98 Rowe M6 GT3 driven by Connor De Phillippi, Martin Tomczyk, Sheldon van der Linde, and Marco Wittmann finished eighth on the circuit, but was later disqualified because of a short final stint by Wittmann.
The additional M6 GT3s in the pack finished out of the top ten. Jesse Krohn, Jens Klingmann, and Stef Dusseldorp in the #20 Schubert car finished fourteenth, and the #77 BMW Junior team car of Daniel Harper, Max Hesse, and Neil Verhagen, running along with Augusto Farfus, finished fifteenth. The next M6 GT3 in the finishing order was the eighteenth place Walkenhorst Motorsport car driven by Jorg Muller, Sami-Matti Trogen, and Kuba Giermaziak.
Philipp Eng said, “The race was a lot of fun. The car felt great, we crossed off everything on our to-do list, and completed our program. We also compared tires. The atmosphere in the team is really good, we’re all helping each other out, and are very open with each other. It’s a lot of fun, and now we are all really looking forward to the big race at the beginning of June.”
A Walkenhorst M4 GT4 driven by American racers Lance Boicelli, David Thilenius, and Charlie Postins finished first in the SP 10 class.
Francesco Merlini, Florian Naumann, Philipp Leisen, and Yannick Fübrich won the all-M2 CS Racing Cup 5 class in the #240 Adrenalin Motorsport Team car.
The Nürburgring 24 will be run on June 5–6.—Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy BMW Motorsport.]