The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup held a three-hour race at the Nürburgring (Grand Prix circuit) this past weekend. It was a challenging race for most of the BMW entries, with the best results being a fifth-place overall and in the Pro class, as well as a fourth-place finish in the Bronze Cup class.
In qualifying, the best BMW performance was from the #998 M4 GT3 entered by ROWE Racing for Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper, and Max Hesse. Harper qualified in eighth-place overall, around a half-second behind the Porsche that was on pole. At the race start, Farfus got the jump on several other cars and worked his way toward the front, but was hit and spun by a Mercedes, which dropped them back several positions that they were never able to make up in the race, ultimately finishing eleventh.
The #998 M4 GT3 had a great start by Augusto Farfus, but was spun on the first lap.
Meanwhile, the #98 ROWE Racing entry of Marco Wittmann, Nick Yelloly, and Philipp Eng was hanging in the top five, working their way up to fourth at one point. They were given a 15-second penalty for being under the minimum refueling time and initially finished in sixth but were moved up to fifth when the Aston Martin in front of them got a penalty. “Unfortunately, our M4 GT3 was not capable of more performance this weekend,” said ROWE Team Principal Hans-Peter Naundorf. “We got the maximum out of it and can be more than satisfied with the end result. Now, after four tough months, we are looking forward to the summer break, in which we can recharge all our batteries.”
The #32 Team WRT M4 GT3 retired after contact with another car.
The best finish from other BMWs in the field was the fourth place Bronze Cup class finish for the #991 Century Motorsport M4 GT3 of Dennis Leung, Jake Dennis, and Toby Sowery. The #32 Team WRT car of Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, and Charles Weerts was running in the top six for much of the race, but retired with suspension damage after being hit by another car. The #46 WRT car of Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi, and Rafaelle Marciello finished down in 18th overall after contact early in the race, and the #30 OQ by Oman Racing entry of Jens Klingmann, Sam de Haan, and Ahmad Al-Harthy finished seventh in the Bronze Cup class.
The #991 Century Motorsport car finished fourth in the Bronze Cup class.
Next up for the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup is a race at the Monza circuit in Italy on September 20th-22nd. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy ROWE Racing, Gruppe C Photography]
Tags: GT World Challenge