ROWE RACING leaves the “Green Hell” empty handed despite strong performance
St. Ingbert, 29th May 2022 – ROWE RACING endured a bitter weekend at the 50th edition of the ADAC 24h Nürburgring. The new BMW M4 GT3 performed well on its first appearance in the “Eifel Marathon”, delivering a front-row start and race-leading laps for the team from St. Ingbert. However, an unwelcome collision and a technical defect soon put paid to any hopes of a third consecutive podium finish.
ROWE RACING impressively confirmed its status as one of the favourites during the qualifying sessions on Thursday and Friday. In the #98 BMW M4 GT3, South African driver Sheldon van der Linde posted the best time of the first three practice sessions, catapulting his crew into the second Top Qualifying session to determine the starting grid. That was where Brazil’s Augusto Farfus put the team’s #99 on the front row – for the second time in a row for ROWE RACING after last year’s pole position.
In the spectacular opening stages of the race, Austrian Philipp Eng fended off his rivals to defend second place on turn one and then moved into the lead on lap four. Augusto Farfus took over from Philipp Eng in the cockpit after seven laps and returned to first place towards the end of his stint.
Then the bad luck set in. Firstly, Britain’s Nick Yelloly was barged by a rival in the pit lane and when the two parties met again on the circuit one lap later, the unfortunate result was such serious damage to the #99 BMW M4 GT3 that the car had to retire. That meant that US-American Connor De Phillippi had no chance to make an appearance.
The #98 then stepped into the breach. After focussed performances by two-time German DTM champion Marco Wittmann, Sheldon van der Linde, John Edwards from USA and Dutchman Nick Catsburg, the crew had moved up from 13th position to take the lead after seven hours of racing. However, Sheldon van der Linde then lost control of the BMW M4 GT3 due to a technical issue with the front right suspension. The South African fortunately emerged unscathed from the hefty crash into the barriers behind the Niki Lauda turn, but the race was over for the St. Ingbert team.
Hans-Peter Naundorf, Team Principal ROWE RACING: “Of course, that was not the result we had hoped for at the 50th edition of the 24h Nürburgring. In fact, the performance of the car, the drivers and the team was spot on for qualifying and in the early part of the race. Both cars managed to lead the race for a time. However, carelessness in the case of the first car and a technical issue with the second then saw us lose both BMW M4 GT3s early. That is a very bitter pill to swallow, as we know that the car was capable of winning. We didn’t manage to drive an error free race, as we had set out to do, and we also saw that our car is not stable enough over the distance. That is motor racing, and we won’t get down about it. You have to be able to deal with it. We will now look ahead and do everything in our power to do better in our next races. Many thanks to the drivers, our whole team and to BMW for all their work over recent weeks to get the car into the condition we saw here.”
Sheldon van der Linde (#98 ROWE RACING BMW M4 GT3): “The race actually went very well and we moved up plenty of places. I felt good in my first night time stint, but then this accident was caused by a technical problem. The highlight of my weekend was the lap in Top Qualifying 1. There was great pressure to get us into Q2, as it is difficult to reach the front if you don’t start in the top 20 but I drove a great lap. It’s a shame that the weekend ended like it did, but what can you do?”
Nick Yelloly (#99 ROWE RACING BMW M4 GT3): “Of course, it’s disappointing to retire so early – for me, for the team and for BMW M Motorsport. We entered the turn three abreast and once I noticed that the Porsche was moving over from the far right, it was too late to brake. Ultimately, it was my mistake. I am very sorry that the team lost both cars. However, the BMW M4 GT3 is great to drive and has huge potential. We will be back and I am sure we will win this race sooner or later.”
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ROWE RACING celebrates its second podium finish in eight days at the race start on the Nordschleife
