Farfus Not Focused on Potential N24-24H Spa Double Win

Augusto Farfus says he is not focused on the potential of back-to-back wins in the Nürburgring 24 and CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with ROWE Racing, admitting it would be “very unique” but adding a Spa win would be a significant challenge given the strength of the Pro field.

Farfus, together with Jesse Krohn, Raffaele Marciello and Kelvin van der Linde, won the N24 in a ROWE BMW M4 GT3 EVO last weekend, which marked the first leg in an Intercontinental GT Challenge double header.

Notably, while Van der Linde has moved across to the No. 32 Team WRT BMW for the 24H Spa, three-quarters of ROWE’s N24-winning lineup has remained the same at Spa as Farfus shares the No. 98 machine with Krohn and Marciello.

That gives the trio the unique opportunity of winning two back-to-back 24-hour races with the same team and effectively the same lineup, but Farfus noted that that will be tough ask because of the strength of the field at Spa.

“Nürburgring is the past, so it’s behind us,” Farfus told Sportscar365.

“Of course, it would be nice if we could always repeat our last weekend when they are good. But you know how it is.

“I think the level here is very high. In Nürburgring we had a few strong cars. Here we have a lot of strong cars.

“To be honest, if I ask you to write down three favourites, it would be difficult to pick three. At the Nürburgring, probably you could have us, Manthey and a Mercedes and you would not be so far off.

“Here it’s impossible. So we need to try to pick up. I think we work very well.

“I think being always the same guys makes a big difference. Because we know each other, [also for] stuff like seat position. It’s all pretty much the same.

“This is gonna be a difficult one. Of course, having the good vibe around the car makes everything much easier.

“It’s the same people. There is a bit of [rotation] in the mechanics because [some of] the mechanics, of course, went to car No. 998, but the spirit is there.

“Racing here is about a team. You need a team. I think we are very sorted but there is another 20 very sorted cars as well.”

Farfus admitted that it would be a “very unique” achievement to go back-to-back between the two races, but he also pointed that the Hans-Peter Naundorf-led ROWE squad has won the N24 and the 24H Spa in the same year before.

This occurred in 2020, when Alexander Sims, Nick Yelloly and Nicky Catsburg triumphed in the N24 in a BMW M6 GT3, followed by a victory at Spa with a Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor.

“It will be something very unique,” said Farfus.

“ROWE, though, they already won [both] with the BMW and the Porsche. Which is quite remarkable to have such a big switch.

“So it is possible. Again, I think there is 75 cars dreaming for the same. We never consider the Silver cars, but that Silver car from Paradine is fast.

“And I think when we get down to the wire, probably the Pro cars will be the one. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to the end of the race and we have a Silver car just there.”