The first home outing for ROWE RACING in the 2016 Blancpain GT Series produced two points finishes but no particularly happy faces. The team from St. Ingbert ended Sunday’s race – the first time a Blancpain sprint race had been held at the GP circuit in the Eifel region – in eighth and ninth place, as the series shared the bill with the International ADAC Truck Grand Prix. The traditional round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring forms the second home outing on 18th September.

Regular ROWE RACING duo Philipp Eng from Austria and Alexander Sims from Great Britain secured a good grid position in the #99 car. They came home seventh in the qualifying race in the familiar surroundings in the Eifel Mountains. However, they did not have the pace in the race to challenge for a place on the podium. Even an early driver changeover did not help the team progress through the field. As such, Eng and Sims had to settle for two points for ninth place. They are now 12th overall in the Sprint Cup with 35 points.

Dutchman Stef Dusseldorp was ably assisted in the #98 car by BMW DTM driver Maxime Martin. The Belgian, who claimed the second win of his DTM career at the Nürburgring last year, brought the BMW M6 GT3 home in eighth place after the driver changeover. Dusseldorp and Martin had previously produced an outstanding effort in Saturday’s qualification race to climb from 21st on the grid to finish ninth. Next up for ROWE RACING is the test day for the second 24-hour classic of year in Spa on Tuesday (5th July). The race in Belgium on 30th/31st July forms the highlight of the season in the Blancpain GT Series.

ROWE RACING team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf: “I am a bit disappointed by the race results, because they are not what we had hoped for. In contrast, I am very happy with the way our drivers and team performed here. They were flawless on both days. The team improved the car again for Sunday, so we were able to get a bit closer to the front-runners. However, we could do nothing to prevent some of the other cars from pulling away. They were simply faster than us on a track like this. You simply have to acknowledge that. All we could do in the second half of the race was maintain our positions. What was really excellent at the weekend was the atmosphere for the event outing with the Truck Grand Prix. It meant we had a huge crowd for a sprint race. Everyone was captivated. Together with the trucks, we had a really good mix.”