99 BMW M4 GT3 EVO misses third place by just 17.3 seconds / Defending champion #1 retires after technical issue
ROWE RACING fought for another podium finish at the ADAC 24h Nürburgring right until the closing stages despite difficult circumstances. In front of 352,000 spectators around the Nordschleife, da, Max Hesse, Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor in the #99 BMW M4 GT3 EVO ultimately missed out on third place by just 17.3 seconds. The #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Augusto Farfus, Augusto Farfus, Raffaele Marciello, Jordan Pepper and Kelvin van der Linde, was forced to retire from its title defence on Saturday evening due to a technical issue.
Despite challenging conditions, ROWE RACING delivered a strong team performance throughout the entire race week. Changeable weather conditions, intense strategic pressure and a difficult balance of performance classification made the race even more complicated. Nevertheless, the team from St. Ingbert operated almost flawlessly for large parts of the event.
While the #1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO remained within striking distance of the podium places until its retirement, the #99 had to begin a recovery drive from the opening lap. Following an unavoidable spin for Dan Harper on the Grand Prix track, the car initially dropped far back. However, the crew fought back impressively and remained in contention for third place until the final stages. In the Intercontinental GT Challenge classification, the quartet ultimately finished second.
Hans-Peter Naundorf, Team Principal ROWE RACING: “That was an extremely demanding race for us under the circumstances. Nevertheless, the entire team did a strong job throughout the whole week and fought for the podium until the very end. The fact that we missed out by only a few seconds shows how much we managed to get out of the situation. Of course, it’s very unfortunate that the #1 car retired as well, especially as it was also within striking distance of the front positions. We will analyse that internally. But it’s also clear that the current balance of performance made things extremely difficult for us under these conditions. We would like to see this topic assessed much more transparently and based on data in the future – just as other leading international series already do successfully. A race like the 24h Nürburgring deserves maximum sporting fairness and equal opportunities for all manufacturers.”
Dries Vanthoor (#98 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE RACING): “That’s obviously not the result we were hoping for. For us, it started off a bit difficult; we were spun around in the first lap. Then we fought our way back into the top five, which was very strong. The team did an incredible job. They worked very hard all week, so a big thank you to them. It’s sad not to have given the crew a podium, but that’s how it is. We’ll be back next year.”
Jordan Pepper (#1 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE RACING): “This was my first 24h Nürburgring as a BMW M works driver, and I’m very proud to have been part of the #1 crew. We would have liked to defend start number #1, but technical defects happen in motorsport. That’s very unfortunate, but no one is really to blame. I think we would have had a good chance to at least fight for the podium again, because we were especially strong in mixed conditions. The problem with refuelling occurred quite early in the race and set us back. I would love to come back with this crew next year.”
Published by: Rowe Racing
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