Rowe BMWs to Skip Monza Season Opener

Rowe Racing will skip the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Monza next weekend, which will feature a 53-car grid.

Despite some favorable changes in the Balance of Performance prior to the Sprint Cup opener at Misano, the team’s two BMW M6 GT3s struggled for pace at the Italian track. 

ENTRY LIST: Monza

“We still have some way to go if we are to catch those at the top,” said team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf after the weekend.

“We did close the gap a little over the course of the weekend, but the Mercedes in particular were not within striking distance.”

Rowe is expected to focus on the Qualifying Race for the Nürburgring 24 instead, which will take place on the same weekend.

This means there will be only one BMW on the grid in Italy, with Walkenhorst Motorsport fielding an M6 GT3 for Nico Menzel, Mikkel Jensen and Jaap van Lagen.

HTP Motorsport has decided upon its Endurance Cup lineups, with Jimmy Erkisson joining current points leaders Maxi Buhk and Franck Perera in the No. 84 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Dominik Baumann, Edward Sandström and Fabian Schiller lining up in the No. 85 entry.

Michael Avenatti, Damien Faulkner and Mike Skeen will pilot HTP’s only Pro-Am Cup entry.

Former GP2 and Indy Car racer Luca Filippi will join Lamborghini factory drivers Marco Mapelli and Giovanni Venturini in the No. 66 Attempto Racing lineup, while Clément Mateu and Giorgio Maggi will race with Max Van Splunteren in the sister No. 67 entry.

Roock Racing is another no-show on the Monza entry list. The German team was set to make a comeback to modern racing with two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs.

This leaves the Herberth Motorsport entry for Jürgen Häring, Alfred Renauer and Robert Renauer as the only Porsche in the field.

Although ISR is listed with two Audi R8 LMS, the Czech team will only run a single car for Filip Salaquarda, Frank Stippler and Clemens Schmid at Monza. 

AF Corse has added another Ferrari 488 GT3 to its stable, with Alex Demerdjian, Davide Rizzo and Abigail Eaton set to take part in the battle for Am Cup honors. 

No fewer than 53 GT3 cars will take part in the Monza three-hour race, with 31 entries, more than half the field, competing in the Pro category.