ROWE Racing Take BMW’s 25th Spa 24 Hours Victory: Eng, Wittmann & Yelloly In The #98 BMW M4 GT3
In the end the #98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 had an effective fast cruise to the finish, 537 laps completed the race with an 11 second edge at the flag
It’s a 25th win for BMW at the Spa 24 Hours and the first for the M4 GT3. It’s a third win for ROWE Racing .
Phillipp Eng becomes the eighth driver to score three overall wins
Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly score their first Spa 24 Hours wins, Yelloly then scoring a second major 24 Hour race win after taking overall honours at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2020.
“It means a lot to me. Winning a 24-hour race is an incredible achievement for a race driver. This is the most difficult GT race to win with the best drivers and teams. It’s an honour. I appreciate it. At one point we were a lap down and thought we wouldn’t be in contention, but the team pulled us back with strategy. We had good pace but it wasn’t easy. The last two hours felt like forever,” Phillip Eng
“I’ve been trying here for 10 years. A few times P2 but this is a sweet taste. To win it here for the first time feels incredible. It was an incredible job to bring us back to the lead lap, my teammates did an incredible job. Our car was great and it feels extremely good, my first 24-hour win,” Marco Wittman.
“25 wins here for BMW is a fantastic achievement, to win so many things need to go your way. I’ve had a week of it, we had the first GTP win in Watkins Glen for 23 years and now to win here, hopefully we can keep this going!” Nick Yelloly.
Winners last year Akkodia ASP with Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon come home second this year with Timur Boguslavskiy completing the squad.
“I was just hoping we wouldn’t go side-by-side through Eau Rouge in the final hours, that was my nightmare. Luckily my girlfriend is Danish and she gave me some tips of how to deal with big Danish boys! It was difficult. We didn’t have the fastest car, so you always feel you need to pray. I just had to drive. We won last year, so P2 this year is pretty amazing,” Jules Gounon
Nicki Thiim anchored the #17 Scherer Sport PHX Audi to complete the podium alongside Kelvin van der Linde and Luca Engstler.
“It was a sweet taste. Thanks to my teammates who helped me a lot. I only knew this track from touring car racing before. We executed well, congrats to the others, time for more next year,” Luca Engstler
“It was a goosebumps moment, it’s not often to share a stint with your brother and fight for the overall lead. It was a great moment for both of us. He had a great car but was unlucky. We delivered today without any mistakes, so great job. We will try again next year,” Kelvin van der Linde.
“I had a lot of fun today, one of the best days at a race track for a long time. I hadn’t driven this car for 10 years. It’s a bit annoying t finish P3. I would like to go side-by-side with Jules again, maybe next year! We need some drinks after this!” Nicki Thiim
The top ten were completed by the #92 Manthey EMA Porsche, a late charge from Kevin Estre falling just shot of the podium, the #96 Rutronik Porsche, the #46 Team WRT BMW, the #11 Audi Sport Team Comtoyou Audi, the #40 Audi Sport Tresor Orange 1 Audi, and the #777 Mercedes AMG Team Almanar AMG with the Gold Cup win going to the #5 Optimum Mclaren scoring a fine top ten overall finish with Dean Macdonald, Tom Gamble, Sam de Haas and Charlie Fagg, the 720S coming home well clear of the #31 WRT BMW and #21 Comtoyou Audi in class.
The pole-setting #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche of Matteo Cairoli, Jannes Fittje, Antares Au and Tim Heinemann came home as winners in the Bronze cup, a fine 13th overall ahead of race-long rivals the #911 Pure Rxcing Porsche and the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing McLaren.
Tim Heinemann meanwhile claimed the fastest ap of the race, on lap 443, a 2:17.087 taking the GT3 lap record at Spa into the bargain!
Silver Cup was a somewhat less closely fought affair with the #85 GRT Lamborghini salvaging a result from a wretched weekend for the marque, Benji Hites, Clemens Schmid and Glenn van Berlo take the win from the #12 Comtoyou and #26 Sainteloc Audis.
Pro-Am, after a weekend of real drama goes to the #75 SunEnergy1 AMG, 22nd overall after a pitlane start for very late addition Adam Osieka, Chaz Mostert, Martin Konrad and Nicky Catsburg who takes a third 24 Hour class win in 2023, all in different machinery (Corvette at Le Mans, Ferrari at Nurburgring, and now AMG at Spa.
Their run in the replacement car bought by Kenny Habul after he was eliminated by an accident in Pre qualifying, fended off a spirited challenge from the #24 Car Collection Porsche with the #888 CSA racing Audi a distant class third.
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