ROWE RACING looking forward to returning to the scene of one of the greatest victories in the team’s history

ROWE RACING is returning to Monza’s Royal Park in this weekend with some very positive memories. Last year, the St. Ingbert team celebrated the top two spots there at the season‑opener in the GT World Challenge Europe. It was the first GT World Challenge win away from Spa, and the first one‑two result in the entire history of the team.

ROWE RACING is now aiming to build on this performance at the historic Italian circuit to move closer to the leaders in the overall Endurance Cup standings. The St. Ingbert team is currently in second place in the team championship, just nine points behind the top team. In the drivers’ standings, Augusto Farfus from Brazil, Dan Harper from Great Britain and Max Hesse from Germany are currently in fourth position. The trio, who won the race at the Le Castellet season-opener in the #998 BMW M4 GT3, are 18 points behind the leaders. However, they have just two and three points fewer than the teams in second and third positions. Dan Harper and Max Hesse finished second at Monza last year.

There have also been some personnel changes and two debuts in the #98 BMW M4 GT3. As Austrian driver Philipp Eng and Britain’s Nick Yelloly are competing for BMW M Motorsport in the IMSA series in the USA at the weekend, two-time German DTM‑champion Marco Wittmann will be joined by two new team-mates. BMW M works driver Robin Frijns will be making his race debut for ROWE RACING. The Dutch driver did not make an appearance at the ADAC 24h Nürburgring as his car retired early from the race. Frijns‘ compatriot Maxime Oosten is a completely new face in the team from St. Ingbert. The 20‑year‑old driver has already got to know the BMW M4 GT3 in the GT World Challenge Asia and the ADAC GT Masters, in which he claimed second place overall with three race wins in four out of six race weekends.

The 5.793‑kilometre high‑speed circuit in the famous Royal Park is the home of the Italian Grand Prix in Formula 1 and represents a unique and extremely demanding test for the cars. The switches between long straights and slow chicanes make good traction and steady braking important, as well as top speed. The circuit also features two very fast corners in Curva Grande and the iconic Parabolica.

The race weekend at Monza kicks off for the team from St. Ingbert on Saturday (21st September) with the two‑hour free practice session from 9:00 to 11:00 followed by the 60‑minute pre‑qualifying session from 14:10 to 15:10. On Sunday (22nd September), the qualifying session from 9:00 to 10:00 will determine the start grid for the three‑hour race, which is scheduled to start at 15:30.

Hans-Peter Naundorf, ROWE RACING team principal: “We are looking forward to returning to Monza. This unique circuit should suit our BMW M4 GT3 and our drivers, as shown by our one-two result last year. We want to build on that performance and score as many points as possible for the overall standings in the Endurance Cup. We have made two personnel changes in the #98 BMW M4 GT3. As Philipp Eng and Nick Yelloly are unavailable due to conflicting commitments, we had already decided to call on Robin Frijns as a replacement. The early retirement at the ADAC 24h Nürburgring robbed him of the chance to make an appearance, so we are looking forward all the more to his first race kilometres in our team. However, he will still have to use the test sessions to familiarise himself with the Pirelli tyres. We are also delighted to be able to give a chance to a young driver like Maxime Oosten. He made a strong case for this appearance with good performances in other series, and as a team, we have demonstrated our willingness to work successfully with young drivers like Dan Harper and Max Hesse.”