At the season-ending weekend of the 2016 Blancpain GT Series, ROWE RACING gave away their chances for top-ten results due to their own mistakes. In the last round of the Sprint Cup, held at the Formula 1 circuit in Barcelona, the St. Ingbert based team finished 15th and 24th respectively with its two BMW M6 GT3s. It was the first race appearance of the team at the “Circuit de Catalunya“.
Both regular ROWE RACING drivers, BMW works driver Philipp Eng from Austria and Brit Alexander Sims, were eyeing a podium result at some point during the race. Eng had brought the #99 BMW M6 GT3 from P8 to P4 in what was a fantastic opening lap. He kept this position until the round of mandatory pit stops began. However, as the tyre change didn’t run according to plan, the crew lost valuable seconds and dropped back to 11 again. A drive-through penalty for Sims following a collision ultimately put the top-ten positions out of reach for the team.
The two Dutchmen Nick Catsburg and Stef Dusseldorp, who had improved from the back of the field to P18 in the qualifying race on Sunday morning, were running in a promising 11th position until the pit stop. But then there also occurred problems during the tyre change for the #98 BMW M6 GT3 that cost the team several positions. Ultimately the pairing had to make do with 15th.
ROWE RACING Team Principal Hans-Peter Naundorf said: “This could have been a good conclusion to the season for us today, but unfortunately we made some mistakes in the race and in the pit lane that made us lose ground. However, the 2016 season in the Blancpain GT Series, our debut season with BMW Motorsport, was really successful overall. Victory at the Spa 24 Hours was the absolute highlight. Thank you to the series organisers SRO, who again did a great job in 2016. We are looking forward to the 2017 Blancpain GT Series, in which we obviously will take part again. Over the winter we want to do some homework – and then come back next year to celebrate further success again.”
After the tenth and final round of the 2016 Blancpain GT Series, ROWE RACING’s endurance season is far from over. As early as this Saturday (8th October) another race appearance is scheduled for the team: the “DMV 250-Meilen-Rennen” in the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.