ROWE BMW Wins at Nürburgring After FCY Shakeup

ROWE Racing took victory in the three-hour GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup race at the Nürburgring after a late Full Course Yellow in the middle of a pit cycle threw the race on its head.

Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marcello, sharing the No. 98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, converted pole position to give the Hans-Peter Naundorf-led squad its first win since last year’s Paul Ricard season opener.

The No. 98 car led the early stages after Farfus started from pole following Team WRT’s post-qualifying penalty, but lost out to the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo when it pulled off a successful undercut during the first round of stops.

Comtoyou appeared on course to capture its first win since last year’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, until an incident involving the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II and No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 threw the race on its head.

The contact between the two cars, which left the No. 74 machine stranded in the gravel, triggered a Full Course Yellow in the middle of the second and final round of pitstops.

The No. 7 Aston Martin, along with the likes of the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari, No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R, No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and No. 32 Team WRT BMW, were making their stops just before the FCY was declared.

This left them vulnerable to be jumped by cars that had not yet pitted, which then happened when the No. 98 BMW was at the head of a back of Pro runners that were able to save significant time by pitting during the FCY.

As a result, Marciello took the restart in the lead, ahead of the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3.

Behind the winning BMW, Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Matteo Cairoli finished second, with the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Sven Mueller, Alessio Picariello and Patric Niederhauser completing the podium.

HRT Ford Performance saw a maiden overall podium with the Mustang GT3 dashed within the final 20 minutes of the race after it received a ten-second penalty for an FCY infringement.

The No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo notably extended its lead in the drivers’ championship by coming home in second, outscoring both the third-placed Rutronik Porsche as well as the No. 32 Team WRT BMW, which finished outside of the points.

Ayhancan Guven, Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler took fourth in the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche ahead of the No. 63 Grasser Lamborghini.

Jann Mardenborough, Arjun Maini and Thomas Drouet dropped to sixth as a result of their penalty.

AF Corse appeared on course to finish fifth with their No. 51 Ferrari until Alessandro Pier Guidi brought the car into the pits with a power steering failure.

Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen eventually came home seventh in the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, followed by the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Post-Race Penalty Prevents Verstappen dot com Racing from Clinching Gold Cup Title

In the Gold Cup, Verstappen dot com Racing initially appeared to have the Endurance Cup drivers’ title in Gold Cup clinched by capturing a second class win of the season.

However, the No. 33 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Chris Lulham, Thierry Vermeulen and Harry King received a ten-second post race penalty for a collision with the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren at Turn 17.

As a result, the No. 777 Al Manar Racing by WRT BMW of Al Faisal Al Zubair, Ben Tuck and Jens Klingmann, which entered the weekend second in the standings, was promoted to first in class.

Therefore, the No. 33 Aston Martin no longer outscores its nearest rivals and thus no longer clinches the title with a race to spare, with the Gold Cup title instead set to be decided in the Barcelona season finale in October.

The No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG took the victory in the Silver Cup, while 2 Seas’ No. 222 Mercedes-AMG completed a late-race overtake on the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche to come out on top in Bronze Cup.

RESULTS: 3 Hours of Nürburgring

This report was updated on Sunday at 8:45 p.m. CEST (2:45 p.m. EST) to include the penalty for the No. 33 Aston Martin