ROWE Hopeful of Carrying Monza Form to Paul Ricard

ROWE Racing’s drivers are hopeful that the team can carry its Monza-winning form into this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup race at Paul Ricard.

The German squad claimed a one-two result in the opening round of the season with its BMW M4 GT3s, led by the No. 98 crew of Nick Yelloly, Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng.

Paul Ricard has plenty of high-speed corners that play to the strengths of the BMW, while the race into darkness could provide a further benefit as the cooler temperatures increase air density and the efficiency of the turbocharged 3-liter straight-six engine.

When asked about ROWE’s chances of replicating its Monza showing, Yelolly told Sportscar365: “I’d say it rates pretty good.

“Last year we were fast and running [seventh] in stint one with Nicky [Catsburg] when we got a puncture.

“It was 35 degrees, insanely hot, so I’d like to think we now have the car in a better window. Hopefully, being cooler, I’d like to think that we could be in the mix.

“We don’t know how the other teams have developed because everyone is improving.

“But I’d like to think we can be around the top five or six. It’s what I’d expect.

“We tested here are the start of the year and it was nice, feeling-wise. We didn’t test at Monza, so it was nice to be fast out of the box.”

Yelloly explained that the Paul Ricard circuit layout, which includes the almost 2 km (1.24-mile) Mistral Straight and several high-speed corners, is a positive for the BMW.

However, there are also more low-speed corners at the French track compared to Monza.

“You’ve got the long back straight into Signes which is super high speed,” said Yelloly.

“You’re not allowed to run off without getting penalized, so I think that’s an advantage for us. We seem to have a better aerodynamic platform.

“In the slower speed, we do tend to struggle in the last sector, based on the test where the Mercedes looked strong. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

“It would be very much dependent on track temperatures. The Mercedes is always fast, and the Lamborghini was fast here last year.

“That’s the great thing about this championship: you never know who is going to be competitive.”

The British driver added that the timing of Saturday’s qualifying session — between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. — could present a challenge for the BMW contingent before the race.

“It tends to go towards us if we have an early qualifying or late-finishing race,” he said. “It offsets and maybe we look a bit stronger than we actually are.

“In qualifying, we’ll have to see. But in the last three or four hours of the race, we could be [strong]. It cooled down quite a lot last night.”

The optimism at ROWE spreads across both of the team’s Endurance Cup cars as Dan Harper, Neil Verhagen and Max Hesse aim to secure a repeat of their Monza podium.

“Judging off last year, we were strong in the race,” Harper told Sportscar365.

“When it comes to the night and it’s cooler conditions, it suits the car better. The slightly longer race into the evening is perfect for us.

“But everyone is fast. I don’t think we were the strongest car last year in qualifying. It was very warm last year, but thankfully it’s a bit cooler at the moment this weekend.”