ROWE RACING aiming to build on the superb performance from the Monza season opener at the Le Castellet 1,000 km race
St. Ingbert, 30th May 2023 – Next stop Le Castellet. After the outstanding one‑two result at the GT World Challenge Europe Monza opener, ROWE RACING intends to be involved in the battle for the podium positions in the second Endurance Cup race. Next Saturday, ROWE RACING will slip confidently into the role of the hunted at the 1,000‑km race (3rd June) on the former Formula 1 circuit at Le Castellet in the south of France. Six weeks previously, the team from St. Ingbert became just the second team in the history of the most important European GT3 series to finish a race with cars in first and second places. Taking the third‑place finish in the third race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) into account, and the recent second position at the ADAC 24h Nürburgring, ROWE RACING has claimed four podium spots in the last three races.
Two‑time DTM champion Marco Wittmann was on the rostrum to receive the trophies at each of these three races with ROWE RACING and would like nothing more than to continue the sequence. The Franconian will again be sharing the cockpit with Austria’s Philipp Eng and British driver Nick Yelloly in the #98 BMW M4 GT3, the car in which the trio secured pole position at Monza before claiming a commanding victory.
A good grid position at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet would also provide a solid foundation for the drive into Saturday night, as the eventual winner has always enjoyed a top‑ten grid position since the race distance was set to six hours. It is always a major challenge to enjoy a clear lap in the three 15‑minute qualifying sections, however, with 57 cars registered to race on the nearly 5.8‑kilometre circuit that boasts 15 corners and the ultra‑long Mistral straight.
The three BMW M works drivers Dan Harper from Great Britain, Max Hesse from Germany and Neil Verhagen from the USA are competing in the team’s #998 car – and have good memories of last year. They appeared as BMW Junior Team, give a great catch‑up performance to finish fourth and coming close to recording a podium finish for ROWE RACING. The trio would love to make up for that this year – as was the case with their second‑place finish at Monza.
The race weekend in the south of France starts on Friday (2nd June) for the St. Ingbert team. The free practice session is scheduled for 14:35 to 16:05 in the afternoon followed by the pre‑qualifying from 19:50 to 21:20 also lasting 90 minutes. The starting grid for the race will be determined in qualifying from 11:00 to 12:00 on Saturday (3rd June) and the race itself will start at 18:00.
Hans-Peter Naundorf, ROWE RACING team principal: “After the perfect start to the season with first and second positions at Monza, we want to place as high as possible again at Le Castellet. We are convinced that we have the cars and the drivers to be able to battle for the podium positions. The 1,000‑km race is always exciting, multi‑faceted and unpredictable and poses its own special challenges. While the large starting field spreads out during the six hours of racing, there is always a significant risk of tyre damage at this circuit. Some cars have to fight to record good lap times through the twisting sections, riding hard over the high kerbs when exiting corners. I hope that we finish in a good position in qualifying and can then dictate the race from the front, like we did at Monza. Ideally, we will be able to control it. In spring, we did a lot of testing at the Circuit Paul Ricard before the official Prologue and we are confident that we will be in a good position from the word go.”
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ROWE RACING celebrates its second podium finish in eight days at the race start on the Nordschleife
