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At the Nürburgring 24 Hours, ROWE Racing clinched a third-place finish. The number 98 BMW M4 GT3, driven by Dries Vanthoor, trailed the winning Ferrari by just 26.711 seconds, securing second place. Vanthoor, teaming with Maxime Martin, Sheldon van der Linde, and Marco Wittmann, completed 162 laps. This marked BMW M Motorsport’s first podium finish with the M4 GT3 at this prestigious Eifel Mountains endurance race.
Starting from the 31st spot, the four drivers gradually climbed the ranks in the race’s early stages. Post-second pit stop, they secured a top-ten position. They intensely fought against the eventual winners, swapping leads several times. A shorter final pit stop by the ROWE Racing team helped narrow the gap to the victorious Ferrari. However, they couldn’t surpass them.
The 100th BMW M4 GT3 also completed the Nürburgring race. Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Pro-Am team, with drivers Christian Bollrath, Jörg Breuer, Sami-Matti Trogen, and Henry Walkenhorst, managed a 16th overall finish and fifth in the Pro-Am category.
Several BMW M4 GT3s seemed ready to contend for the victory. But a spate of incidents on the 25-kilometre Nordschleife in the early hours shook things up. After a 13-hour race, the second ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3, driven by Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng, Augusto Farfus, and Nick Yelloly, had to pull out following a collision with a slower car. Soon after, BMW Junior Team faced a setback. Their number 72 BMW M4 GT3 suffered significant damage due to a puncture. Despite a stellar early performance and BMW M Team RMG’s repair efforts, drivers Dan Harper, Max Hesse, and Neil Verhagen were forced to retire.
Walkenhorst Motorsport’s other SP9 cars also faced setbacks. After two consecutive crashes, the #101 BMW M4 GT3, set for a top-ten finish in the seventh hour, had to exit the race. A Sunday morning accident ended the race for the number 102 vehicle while it held seventh place.
BMW retains its record of 20 overall victories in the “Green Hell”, asserting its status as the most successful manufacturer in the history of this 24-hour race. The latest BMW win at Nordschleife was in 2020, by ROWE Racing with the BMW M6 GT3.
