ROWE RACING gathers important knowledge in the “home race” for the ADAC 24h Race
St. Ingbert, 29 August 2020 – A lot of work, an unfortunate new classification, but also important lessons for the ADAC 24h Race: ROWE RACING’s “own” 6 Hours ADAC Ruhr Cup race on the Nordschleife went differently than planned. After a slip into the gravel bed shortly before the end of qualifying, the team from St. Ingbert made the BMW M6 GT3 with the #99 serviceable again in time for the start with an extra shift. BMW DTM driver Philipp Eng from Austria and his BMW factory driver colleagues Nick Catsburg from the Netherlands and Nick Yelloly and Alexander Sims from Great Britain rewarded their mechanics for the extra work with a faultless race and finished fifth.
By contrast, the working day for two-time DTM champion Marco Wittmann from Germany, his BMW DTM factory driver colleague Lucas Auer from Austria and Dutchman Stef Dusseldorp came to an early end. After a high-speed accident in the Klostertal section of the track, the #98 BMW M6 GT3 was so badly damaged that it could not be repaired in the short time available. The driver was uninjured in the accident.
After Nick Catsburg had taken second place on the grid in qualifying with a time of 7:58.405 minutes, Nick Yelloly took over the start. The Briton then handed over to Philipp Eng early on – with the team hoping to get the BMW M6 GT3 out of traffic. But Philipp Eng, as well as Alexander Sims and Nick Catsburg later on, were also given little opportunity to show the actual performance of the car on a full lap behind competitors who were very fast, especially on the straights, following the changes to the “Balance of Performance” (BoP) specified at short notice before the race. Nick Yelloly returned to the cockpit at the end of the race and brought home fifth place.
The fans got to see the effects of the BoP adjustments up close in the livestream, also thanks to the use of a helicopter made possible by ROWE MINERALÖLWERK GMBH. The images from a bird’s eye view offered impressive insights over almost the entire course of the 25.378-kilometer combination of Nordschleife and Grand Prix circuit. The fans’ reactions were very positive, and ROWE Managing Director Michael Zehe, who was allowed to fly in the helicopter himself for some time, was also thrilled.
A successful debut for the team from St. Ingbert was celebrated by the new partner U-Mask. For the first time in a race, ROWE RACING used protective masks from the Italian manufacturer which, in addition to providing a high level of protection against viruses, are also comfortable and pleasant to wear over a longer period of time and make breathing much easier.
Hans-Peter Naundorf, Team Principal ROWE RACING: “This was an intensive dress rehearsal for us today with many insights. First of all, I have to give a lot of praise to the entire team, which prepared the BMW M6 GT3 with the #99 in time and perfectly after the slip at the end of the practice. Unfortunately, this was hopeless for the #98 due to the excessive damage. After that, the drivers of the #99 did a perfect job on the track. However, everyone could also see from the helicopter pictures in the livestream that we were unable to exploit the potential of our car. Even with unusual strategy changes we couldn’t change that. The reason was also the short-term BoP changes, which in our opinion missed their target. It has been shown that it is not right to gear a BoP solely to achieving the most similar lap time possible. It would be more important to have a comparable speed profile, because otherwise the cars that are particularly fast on the straights are favored. That’s not in the interests of the sport or the spectators. But we also gained positive impressions today. Our speed on one lap was very good and we made progress with the tires. In addition, we were often in the picture in the live broadcast, which pleased our partner ROWE MINERALÖLWERK GMBH at our ‘home race ‘ race. We now have some work to do over the next few weeks, but will then come back stronger at the ADAC 24h race.”
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