ROWE N24 Appeal Rejected by DMSB

ROWE Racing’s appeal into the outcome of last month’s Nürburgring 24 has been rejected by the DMSB, confirming Scherer Sport PHX as the winner of the 52nd edition of the Eifel endurance classic.

The Hans-Peter Naundorf-led squad filed an appeal immediately after the race in June, after an initial protest had been rejected by the stewards.

Naundorf indicated at the time that the protest and subsequent appeal were filed in regards to the way race control managed the end of the race, arguing that the rules were not properly applied to the situation.

He argued that the race was interrupted and not finished when the checkered flag was shown 55 minutes prior to the intended end time after five exploratory safety car laps, which followed after a lengthy red flag due to fog.

Naundorf further disagreed with the stewards’ use of Article 22 of the DMSB circuit regulations, which state that “if the checkered flag is shown prematurely, this time is decisive for the classification.”

While he argued that that article does not apply to this situation and is only valid when the checkered flag is shown too early, that argument was rejected by the DMSB’s Court of Appeals on Wednesday.

“The President of the Court of Appeal, Rainer Wicke, found in his ruling that the race had been correctly stopped by the black and white chequered flag,” the DMSB stated.

“In principle, a race director must avoid causing damage to participants, spectators and other persons concerned. It is therefore within his competence to terminate a race in this way.

“What’s more, an examination of the timing showed that the winner of the race would not have changed if the red flag had been used after 50 laps instead of the black and white checkered flag.”

As a result, Scherer Sport PHX’s No. 16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, piloted by Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall has been confirmed as the winner of the 52nd edition of the N24.