ROWE RACING shows rise in form and gathers valuable knowledge on unusually long weekend with two races
St. Ingbert, July 12, 2020 – ROWE RACING gained valuable knowledge in preparation for the ADAC 24h Race on an unusually long weekend with, for the first time, two races on the Nordschleife in two days. The team from St. Ingbert showed a clear improvement in form compared to the opening round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series and was in the mix for podium places in the 2nd NLS round on Saturday. In the end, the two British BMW factory drivers Alexander Sims and Nick Yelloly in the #98 BMW M6 GT3 were just four seconds off third place in fifth. In the 3rd NLS round on Sunday, Nick Yelloly drove to 12th place with BMW DTM driver Lucas Auer from Austria, who celebrated his Nordschleife race debut in a GT3 car.
In the 60th ADAC Reinoldus endurance race on Saturday, Alexander Sims, who was back in the cockpit for ROWE RACING for the first time since 2018, made a great start to the race after finishing eighth in qualifying. The BMW Formula E driver made up four places in the first corners of the GP circuit and turned onto the Nordschleife for the first time in fourth. He and his compatriot Nick Yelloly subsequently stayed in the leading group for a long time. After the last pit stop, Alexander Sims fought a high-class duel for fourth place. He missed out by less than a second because, despite all his attempts, he could not find a way past another BMW M6 GT3 with former BMW DTM driver Augusto Farfus in the cockpit.
In the 52nd ADAC Barbarossapreis on Sunday, Nick Yelloly and Lucas Auer had to start the race from 18th position after a difficult qualifying session for many teams. With flawless drives, they moved up to 12th place in the 28 laps and both collected many race kilometers with the BMW M6 GT3 in the “Green Hell”.
The next two appearances in the NLS are scheduled for August. After another 4-hour race on August 1, the ROWE 6 Hours ADAC Ruhr Cup race on August 29 is both a “home race” for ROWE RACING and a dress rehearsal for the 48th ADAC 24h Race on September 26/27.
Hans-Peter Naundorf, Team Principal ROWE RACING: “For us it was a good weekend overall, but also unusually long. It was not at all easy to keep the concentration for two races in one weekend at the highest level. But the team did that very well and worked absolutely flawlessly. Compared to the season opener, it was a clear improvement, especially on Saturday. We even had a chance of finishing on the podium, which we hadn’t expected at all and which gives us good prospects for the next races. On Sunday the task was different because Lucas Auer contested a race on the Nordschleife in a GT3 car for the first time. He reeled off many laps and delivered a flawless performance. Overall, the field in SP9 is currently very close together, when after 28 laps we are in 12th place just 2:24 minutes behind the winner and the first eight cars are within less than a minute. However, it is also noticeable that many drivers are driving very hard and at the limits of fairness on the track. We deliberately kept a low profile with our drivers. On the other hand, the cohesion and interaction among the teams is very good in these difficult times for all of us.”
THIS MIGHT INTEREST YOU
RACETRACK
ROWE RACING celebrates its second podium finish in eight days at the race start on the Nordschleife
