Eng: ROWE “Got Everything Together” for Monza Win

Philipp Eng felt that ROWE Racing “got everything together” for its dominant run to victory in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season-opener at Monza.

The German team claimed a one-two result with its pair of BMW M4 GT3s, delivering the car’s first series win and bringing ROWE back to the top step of the podium for the first time in two years.

After receiving a Balance of Performance break for qualifying, Eng and Wittmann claimed pole on Sunday morning before their car had its 10 kg reduction put back on for the race.

Despite the BoP reversion, Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly led the entirety of the three-hour contest to take an early lead in the Endurance Cup points standings.

“I think we just got everything together today,” Eng told Sportscar365.

“We had a strong package and went in the right direction with the setup every time. We didn’t do any mistakes and had just one track limit warning. That’s how you win a race like this.

“Our pace was good, and we stayed out of trouble. The start was a bit hectic in the first few minutes of the race, but we just made no mistakes.

“I think we all deserve it, in the development of M4 so much work and dedication went into this project. I’m just very happy for everybody back home in Munich and back home at our team.”

Eng kept Mercedes-AMG Team Al Manar Racing driver Maro Engel at bay towards the end of the opening hour before handing the No. 98 BMW over to Wittmann.

After the GetSpeed-run Al Manar Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo dropped back due to a slow pit stop, Wittmann came under pressure from Charles Weerts in the No. 32 Team WRT BMW but went on to establish a larger advantage than what he had inherited.

“I found out after the stint that he had new tires and I had used [qualifying] tires,” Wittmann told Sportscar365.

“For the first 10 laps, he was all over me. But it seemed like he had a bit higher tire deg and I could just keep the consistency in the run.

“We caught six or seven cars to lap, but I got through and we were always two or three-tenths faster and pulled a gap. It was nice because we had decent confidence when we did the driver change.”

Wittmann’s lead of more than five seconds took the pressure off ROWE Racing’s final pit stop when Yelloly came in to bring the dominant No. 98 car to the checkered flag.

Yelloly felt that ROWE arrived into its second season with the BMW M4 GT3 better prepared than last year when it posted a best result of fourth in the Endurance Cup.

“Last year we ended up doing a day of testing before the season started, which was part of the official tests,” said the British driver.

“Really we had no preparation or testing, whereas this past winter and the start of the season we’ve managed to get some days in and go through the setup data, knowing what to do in different situations.

“Mikkel, our engineer, has done a fantastic job all weekend to just tickle the car in the right direction. We were able to hold pace with everyone.

“Dries got close because of the traffic, but once I got clear and we were quite even, I felt like I could pull a gap relatively comfortably. The biggest headache that these guys [Eng and Wittmann] gave me was the lapped traffic!”

Vanthoor reckoned that his WRT BMW “had the pace” to challenge for the win but any hopes of that were dashed when he pitted with 25 minutes to go with tire damage.

“My last stint was going well,” Vanthoor assessed. “I was slowly catching Nick, but it was hard, mid-stint I realized it was going to be a difficult fight, but we were catching.

“And then unfortunately we suffered from a front left puncture. We need to investigate why, probably because of debris on track that cut the tire.

“This is just unlucky, but it is what it is, and we just have to keep the positive in mind.”