BMW rules at the 'Ring as ROWE Racing charges to maiden home-race victory

ROWE Racing captured victory in a thrilling three-hour Endurance Cup race at the Nürburgring, giving BMW a long-awaited GT World Challenge powered by AWS triumph on home soil.  

The brand had never previously celebrated an overall win in Germany, but the #98 crew of Raffaele Marciello, Augusto Farfus and Jesse Krohn put that right by winning from pole position. A total of 25,075 spectators were on-site during the weekend, with Sunday’s race treating them to a huge amount of action throughout the 61-car field. 

With a little over one hour remaining the #98 BMW was running second to the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, which had snatched the lead at the beginning of the second stint. There was little to separate them, but the advantage swung decisively to the ROWE squad thanks to a full-course yellow period, which began just as Mattia Drudi brought the #7 car in for its final stop.

The Aston Martin lost significant time to its rival by pitting while the race was neutralised. The safety car emerged soon after, bunching up the field, but the Aston had surrendered its shot at the win. When racing resumed the BMW had Marciello at the wheel and the Swiss ace was never troubled, bringing the car home for a comfortable win.

"This is huge for the team," said Krohn afterwards. "It's our home race and this track has been good for us this year. [It was a] mega job by Augusto and Lello, the whole team, and everybody at BMW. This is just a massive win." The result comes a little over two months after the same team and drivers triumphed in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, which they followed with a top five finish at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Runner-up spot went to the #48 Mercedes-AMG Mann-Filter of Auer/Cairoli/Engel. The car made good progress from seventh on the grid to run fourth before the late full-course yellow period, which promoted the German squad to second. The result has significant connotations for the Endurance Cup title fight, with the #48 crew stretching its advantage at the top.

But they still face a serious fight, with Rutronik Racing securing the final spot on the podium with its #96 Porsche. The car struggled early on, even dropping out of the top 10, but recovered during the middle stint and was another beneficiary of the full-course yellow timing. This result leaves the trio of Niederhauser/Müller/Picariello just five points off the lead ahead of next month's finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche finished fourth after an action-packed race in which it was almost always engaged in a battle for position, followed by the #63 Grasser Racing Lamborghini. Sixth went to the #64 HRT Ford Performance Mustang, though the American car crossed the line in third after an outstanding showing. A 10-second penalty for a full-course yellow infringement proved costly, though this was still the best result yet for the Mustang GT3.

Verstappen.com Racing took the chequered flag as Gold Cup winners and looked to have clinched the class title, but the Dutch team was subsequently handed a 10-second penalty and slipped to third. This handed victory to the #777 AlManar Racing by WRT BMW of Al Zubair/Klingmann/Tuck and means that the title will be decided at the finale.

Silver Cup honours went to Boutsen VDS with its #10 Mercedes-AMG crew of Panis/Gazeau/Cabirou, which ran as high as fifth overall during the final hour. It fell back amid the frantic closing stages and lost the class lead to the #188 Garage 59 McLaren, but a penalty for the British squad reversed the positions after the chequered flag.

The Bronze Cup win looked to be heading to the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, which led the majority of the race and was on course to seal the class title. But disaster struck when Conrad Laursen was tipped into the gravel shortly before the two-hour mark, denying the team a golden opportunity to be crowned with a race to spare. Instead, the win went to 2 Seas Motorsport. Charles Dawson, Ben Barnicoat and series debutant Tom Lebbon took the #222 Mercedes-AMG to victory, beating Porsche squads Lionspeed GP and UNX Racing to the top step of the podium. 

This year's Endurance Cup titles will be settled on 10–12 October when the series returns to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the season-closing three-hour race. 

Results are HERE