No. 98 ROWE BMW Withdrawn After Qualifying Crash

The No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 will not take part in Sunday’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup round at Monza after a crash in qualifying.

Maxime Oosten went off and impacted the wall at Variante Ascari during the second part of the three-stage qualifying session, bringing out a red flag.

A BMW spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that the car will not be able to take part in the three-hour race at the Italian circuit, which is due to start at 3:30 p.m. CEST (9:30 a.m. EDT).

Oosten was set to share the car with compatriot Robin Frijns and full-season driver Marco Wittmann, with Oosten and Frijns brought in to replace Nick Yelloly and Philipp Eng as a result of a clash with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Indianapolis.

ROWE won last year’s 3 Hours of Monza with Wittmann, Yelloly and Frijns, but have thus far this season recorded a best finish of fifth at the Nürburgring.

As a result of the withdrawal, the field at Monza is down to 51 cars. The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 will start this afternoon’s race from pole position after leading Sunday morning qualifying.