ROWE RACING starts sixth in the European GT World Challenge after strong recovery in Imola
St. Ingbert, 26 July 2020 – ROWE RACING got off to a positive start in the European GT World Challenge with a strong recovery. In the first round of the Endurance Cup of the race series previously known as the Blancpain GT Series, the team from St. Ingbert drove its #99 Porsche 911 GT3 R to sixth place in its first appearance at the tradition-steeped track in Imola, Italy. German Porsche works driver Dirk Werner made up a total of twelve places in the newly assembled ROWE RACING driver trio with French Porsche Young Professional Julien Andlauer and Porsche specialist Klaus Bachler from Austria in the three-hour race.
ROWE RACING had set up well for the 4.909-kilometer track at its first start at the legendary Autodromo Dino e Enzo Ferrari, but was then beaten below value in qualifying. Because the repair of damage to the underbody caused by a ride-out in pre-qualifying was not completed until shortly before the start of qualifying, the team had no time to set up an ideal setup. A gap of 0.544 seconds to the best time meant only 18th place on the grid in the tight field.
In Sunday’s race, former DTM driver Dirk Werner held this position as the starting driver and then handed over the Porsche 911 GT3 R to Julien Andlauer. The 22-year-old Frenchman then made up nine positions on the track, and the team gained another four places during the perfect second pit stop. Final driver Klaus Bachler lost a place after the fourth of a total of five safety car phases in a somewhat confusing situation when lapping, but then brought sixth place safely to the finish.
The next stop in the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup will be a home race for ROWE RACING. On September 6, the second of a total of four rounds of the season will take place on the GP circuit of the Nürburgring.
Hans-Peter Naundorf, Team Principal ROWE RACING: “First of all, we are all happy that the SRO Motorsport Group has succeeded with a successful hygiene concept to now get the European racing season rolling. A big thank you goes to all members of our team, who have implemented these requirements in an exemplary manner. To work our way up twelve places in the race in this incredibly tight field is a huge achievement by the entire team, both the drivers in the cockpit and the pit stop team, which moved us up several places. We are very happy that our junior Julien Andlauer celebrated such a good debut in this series and immediately found his way perfectly in our team. He also showed in the middle third of the race that our Porsche 911 GT3 R is absolutely competitive again this year. Although a few other cars were a bit faster today, this makes us very confident about our home race at the Nürburgring.”
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