ROWE Drivers Bolster WRT’s Indy 8H Lineup

Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper and Max Hesse will form part of Team WRT’s two-car lineup for the Indianapolis 8 Hour, with Harper making his first appearance with the Vincent Vosse-led squad.

WRT will defend its Indy 8H crown as part of a 25-car grid for the final round of both the Intercontinental GT Challenge and Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.

The trio, which has competed with ROWE Racing in Fanatec GT Europe this season, will pilot the No. 33 car while the No. 31 machine will be driven by WRT’s regular lineup of Sheldon van der Linde, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor.

Harper, Hesse and Weerts are all in contention for the IGTC drivers’ standings, having scored a podium at the Nürburgring 24 together while Weerts then also went on to finish third in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

As a result, the Belgian sits just three and a half points behind leaders Ayhancan Guven and Laurens Vanthoor, with the latter confirming to Sportscar365 he will not compete in Indianapolis.

Harper and Hesse, meanwhile are joint fourth in the standings on 27 points while Van der Linde, Vanthoor and Farfus also all still remain in contention for the drivers’ crown.

In the manufacturers’ standings, BMW will need to overcome a deficit of eleven and a half points to Porsche in order to win the title.

Three additional BMW factory drivers will compete at Indianapolis, where they will join teams competing in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS.

As previously confirmed, Connor de Phillippi will join Kenton Koch and Conor Daly aboard the No. 92 BMW. Philipp Eng is set to link up with ST Racing, while Nick Yelloly has been added to the lineup for the No. 8 Flying Lizard Motorsports Pro-Am entry.

They join the likes of Robby Foley, Bill Auberlen and Neil Verhagen, who will all compete as part of full-season Fanatec GT America entries.

“We have the best memories of the Indianapolis 8 Hours,” said BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos.

“Last year, and also in 2020, BMW M Motorsport was able to celebrate victory at the legendary Motorsport Speedway.

“As the defending champions, Team WRT is once again at the start with a very strong line-up of BMW M works drivers.

“We have selected the driver pairings in such a way that we have the best possible chance of influencing the title decision for the driver’s standings in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, in addition to the manufacturer’s standings.

“Furthermore, I am pleased to see an impressive line-up of cars from our North American customer teams.

“Five BMW M4 GT3s in the starting field of the GT World Challenge America shows how popular our GT3 flagship is worldwide. It is an honour for us to support these teams with BMW M works drivers at their season highlight.”