ROWE wins, Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter leads

SRO

Sep 1

Following their triumph at the 24-hour race in June, ROWE Racing and the driver trio Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello have claimed their second endurance race victory of the season at the Nürburgring securing victory with the #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO in the three-hour race of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup.

📷© BMW Group. ROWE Racing, #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, Raffaele Marciello.

ROWE’s second win at Nürburgring in endurance

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.

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. Source: BMW Group

Championship lead for Mercedes-AMG in the overall standings and Endurance Cup

The Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER took a significant step towards the title in the penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup. Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli and Maro Engel finished second in the three-hour race on the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit. This puts defending champions Auer and Engel in the lead in the overall drivers' standings, and Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER in the team standings of the GT World Challenge Europe. At the same time, together with Cairoli, they extended their lead in both Endurance Cup classifications.

The #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER finished Sunday morning's qualifying in seventh place, making it the highest-ranked Mercedes-AMG GT3 on the starting grid. Maro Engel took responsibility for the start and completed a long first stint. Thanks to this successful overcut strategy, teammate Matteo Cairoli returned to the track in fifth place after the first stop and was ahead of the direct championship rivals for the first time in this race. After around two hours, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER once again benefited from good timing at the pit stop. Due to a full-course yellow phase, the #48 lost significantly less time than its competitors. Final driver Lucas Auer therefore restarted from second place overall and did not have to take any more risks to bring the result home confidently.

Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER #48: "That was a great job by the whole team. I am very happy with the result. The competition was very fast this weekend, but we had a perfect race – from the strategy to the pit stops to the pace of my teammates. Second place was therefore the best possible result. With this success behind us, I am now looking forward to the season finale in Barcelona."

Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER #48: "It was a strong race for us. We made some very good strategic decisions during the race and had a much better pace over the distance than in qualifying. The right timing with the pit stop during the full course yellow phase then put us on the podium. These are valuable points for us in the championship. The final phase will be very exciting, but I think we can look ahead confidently.": Source: Mercedes-AMG Motorsport

Rutronik Racing third

Rutronik Racing secured the final spot on the podium with its #96 Porsche. Alessio Picariello started the three-hour race from eighth place on the grid and struggled early on, even dropping out of the top 10, but Sven Müller recovered during the middle stint and was another beneficiary of the full-course yellow timing. Thanks to good driving, a great performance by the team during the pit stops, and a clever strategy, the car was able to gain positions.

Final driver Niederhauser initially saw the checkered flag in fourth place, but due to a time penalty against the Ford driving ahead of him, the team was classified in third place.

This result leaves the trio of Alessio Picariello, Sven Müller, and Patric Niederhauser just five points off the lead ahead of next month's finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

📷© Rutronik Racing. Rutronik Racing #96 Porsche

Klaus Graf, Rutronik Racing team boss: "The streak continues! We've actually managed to get a car on the podium again. The fact that we achieved this at our home race makes it especially nice for us. It was an exciting race and we worked very well, especially strategically and in the pits. The guys then got the most out of the car on the track to get within podium range at the end. We didn't make any mistakes and executed very well in the end. I think that was the maximum we could have achieved in the race. The race has made the battle for the championship even closer. Now we need to stay focused and continue to work hard to get the maximum out of the remaining races in Spain." Source: Rutronik Racing

#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO loses lead GT World Challenge Overall and Endurance Cup standings

#32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO crew was leading championships until the Nürburgring race. The Team WRT PRO crew had a disappointing day. Ugo de Wilde, Charles Weerts, and Kelvin van der Linde did set the fastest time in qualifying but received a five position grid penalty due to a collision. A difficult race followed: the car lacked pace, and a Full Course Yellow just after a pit stop dropped them from fifth to out of points contention. The crew eventually finished P10 overall. The result sees the car lose the lead in the GT World Challenge Overall and Endurance Cup standings.

📷© BMW Group. Team WRT, #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Kelvin van der Linde, Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde.

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."