Nürburgring. They’ve done it again. ROWE Racing and the driver trio Augusto Farfus (BRA), Jesse Krohn (FIN), and Raffaele Marciello (SUI) have claimed their second endurance race victory of the season at the Nürburgring (GER). Following their triumph at the 24-hour race in June, the team and drivers also secured victory with the #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO in the three-hour race of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup. Additional podium finishes went to AlManar Racing by WRT in the Gold Cup and Century Motorsport in the Silver Cup .
Farfus started from pole position and confidently defended the lead during his first stint. After the first pit stops, the car dropped to second place, but a later second stop and a fortuitous yellow flag brought final driver Marciello back to the front from where he confidently maintained the lead until the finish. The #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO crew from Team WRT had a disappointing day. Ugo de Wilde, Charles Weerts (both BEL), and Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) set the fastest time in qualifying but received a five position grid penalty due to a collision. In the race, the crew lacked the necessary pace to keep up with the leaders and finished only in eleventh place overall, which meant ninth place in the Pro Cup.
There were additional podium finishes to celebrate for the BMW M Motorsport teams in the Gold and Silver Cups. The #777 BMW M4 GT3 EVO from AlManar Racing by WRT, driven by Jens Klingmann (GER), Al Faisal Al Zubair (OMA), and Ben Tuck (GBR), finished second in the Gold Cup. Century Motorsport secured third place in the Silver category with the #42 BMW M4 GT3 EVO and drivers Mex Jansen (NED), William Moore (GBR), and Jarrod Waberski (RSA). Fifth and sixth places in the Silver Cup went to Paradine Competition and Team WRT, respectively. In the Bronze Cup, BMW Italia Ceccato Racing finished eighth. The #991 BMW M4 GT3 EVO from Paradine Competition retired following an unavoidable collision.
Comments after the race.
Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport): “Congratulations to ROWE Racing on another fantastic triumph at the Nürburgring! I fondly remember our celebration after the victory at the 24-hour race in June. That was one of the absolute highlights of the season. Now, standing on the top step of the podium on the Grand Prix circuit is a very strong achievement. Thank you to everyone for their hard work! Congratulations also to the winning drivers Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, and Raffaele Marciello, as well as to AlManar Racing by WRT and Century Motorsport for their additional podium finishes with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. It’s unfortunate that things didn’t go well for the Team WRT #32 crew. This is a setback in the title race, but we still have one event left in both the Endurance and Sprint Cups and still have every chance. We will analyse the Nürburgring results together and come back stronger for the Valencia and Barcelona races.”
Hans-Peter Naundorf (Team Principal, ROWE Racing): “Two consecutive wins at the Nürburgring after our triumph at the 24-hour race – that’s impressive! The drivers and team delivered an outstanding performance and had an almost perfect weekend. Qualifying went well, and we were consistently strong in the race. Although we temporarily lost the lead, our strategy to make the final stop later and potentially benefit from a yellow flag paid off. We’ve come back strong after the summer break and are looking forward to the season finale at Barcelona.”
Augusto Farfus (#98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 1st place): “The Nürburgring has been very kind to us this season! A win on the short track and one on the long circuit – that puts a smile on our faces. Huge compliments to ROWE Racing! We were competitive from the first practice session and rewarded ourselves with first place. Now it’s time to celebrate.”
Jesse Krohn (#98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 1st place): “This is a big win for the team at its home race and also for me. Expectations were high after our 24-hour race victory, but we all did a great job together and achieved the perfect result. I’ll remember this win for a long time. Thank you to the entire team and BMW M Motorsport.”
Raffaele Marciello (#98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, ROWE Racing, 1st place): “It was a very good day. We were very strong and showed good pace in the race, even though we temporarily lost the lead due to strategy. We managed to regain it. In recent years, BMW M Motorsport hasn’t been as strong on the Grand Prix circuit of the Nürburgring in the GT World Challenge Europe. It’s great to have changed that now.”
Charles Weerts (#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, 11th place): “We lost quite a bit of time during practice and were therefore a bit on the back foot at the start. However, we made a great comeback with the fastest time in qualifying. Unfortunately, we received a grid penalty for the incident with the Mercedes. In my opinion, he crossed my line, but it is what it is. Even from sixth place, we still had every chance in the race, but for some reason, we just didn’t have the pace. Now we need to investigate why that happened and do better next time. Congratulations to ROWE Racing and the #98 crew on their victory.”
Jens Klingmann (#777 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, AlManar Racing by Team WRT, 2nd place Gold Cup): “We can be proud of second place in the Gold Cup. I don’t think more was possible today. The track was very slippery, which made it quite difficult for all of us. But we secured another podium and lots of points for the championship. We’re happy with that.”
Mex Jansen (#42 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Century Motorsport, 3rd place Silver Cup): “I’m super happy with our performance and third place. The race was chaotic at times with lots of battles, but we fought our way forward. Now we have every chance to win the Silver Cup title at the Barcelona finale. Let’s go get it!”