ROWE dominates Paul Ricard round of GTWC Europe

ROWE Racing keeps proving why they are one of BMW’s flagship customer squads, and the win at Paul Ricard to open the 2024 FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe, and more specifically the Endurance Cup, with the No. 998 BMW M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, Max Hesse and Daniel Harper showing incredible speed to match and eventually overcome the apparently dominant No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.
 
The No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini was more than capable to maintain the lead from the pole position despite the initial pressure of the No. Schumacher CLRT Porsche, A few Safety Car periods kept the order in place and they were able to disappear in front with the No. 998 ROWE BMW.
 
Within 40 minutes a favorite was eliminated as the No. 32 WRT BMW had the rear left corner completely destroyed due to contact with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari. With the problems hitting the debuting Walkenhorst Aston Martins, the Safety Car dictated the pace for some more minutes in the first hour.
 
The No. 22 took the lead due to apparently good pitwork during the first window, but some minutes later, it was shown that a cable was attached to the car’s right side, meaning a technical infringement for the team and a need for an extra visit to the pits.
 
The No. 63 inherited the lead back but there was two problems behind Andrea Caldarelli, which were the No. 998 ROWE BMW and the No. 98 ROWE BMW, all while the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche was patiently watching the movements in front. The No. 96 eventually lost steam but the BMWs were still watching the rear wing of the leading Lamborghini, with Dan Harper exerting extra pressure to throw Caldarelli out of the line, which is what happened with more than 90 minutes of racing, and the No. 998 held well the retaliation attempts from the No. 63.
 
The No. 998 ROWE BMW was creating a gap before the second hour is over, and once Max Hesse was at the wheel, the gap to Matteo Cairoli just got bigger, eventually making any sort of counter attack impossible for the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini.
 
GTWC Europe - Paul Ricard race results
 
The best Gold Cup car was the No. 25 Sainteloc Audi that enjoyed a trouble free run once it got away from the class competition. Winward Racing dominated the Silver Cup with the No. 57 Mercedes, while Kessel Racing led a Ferrari 1-2 in the Bronze Cup with the No. 8 car bringing along the No. 52 from AF Corse.
 
What follows now is a sequence of GTWC Europe Sprint Cup rounds and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring for the Intercontinental GT Challenge, then the second Endurance Cup round will come at the 24 Hours of Spa, on 29 and 30 June.
 
PHOTO: SRO/JEP