BMW M Motorsport and Rowe Racing achieved an epic victory at the 24 hours of Nürburgring and achieved the 21st overall victory of BMW in this legendary endurance test. Before a record amount, the quartet of Kelvin van der Linde, Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello delivered an unforgettable performance in the #98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO – and a wild comeback fell.
The weekend didn’t just started for Rowe Racing. The M4 GT3 EVO missed the top qualification session and had to start from P17. But when the green flag fell, Farfus was on fire – in the top ten in round one. Then came the chaos: a driver’s cable and a red flag lasted the race for two hours. But van der Linde used the restart like a slingshot and scored third place in just two rounds from the ninth.
From there it was a clinic for endurance racing. Marciello and Krohn kept the car through the night in the podium hunt, while Rowe led perfectly in the boxes. At sunrise, the M4 GT3 was at a distance from the leader – and three and a half hours before the checkered flag, Farfus took the lead. When the Porsche #911 was hit with a penalty, it was a game. Although van der Linde and No. 98 crossed the line behind the Porsche, they were declared the winner after the Manthey EMA was rejected.
This was Van der Linde’s third Nürburgring victory 24h, but his first with BMW M. for Farfus, a 15-year-old drought ended here since his last victory. Marciello got his first 24 -hour victory with BMW, and Krohn also added his name to the Nordschleife -Specer Club. BMW’s last overall victory took place in 2020 with the M6 GT3 – also with Rowe Racing. This one? Pure redemption.
M2 racing competes with a class victory
It was not just the big dogs that shone. The new BMW M2 race BMW M motorsports entry-level racing car pounded its class in its final endurance. The car #310 piloted by Jens Klingmann, Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde and journalist Michael Bräuigam was untouched in SP 3T.
In total, BMW M customer teams collected seven class victories. The highlights included the AV races of Black Falcon M4 GT4 EVO (#67), the SP10, adrenaline motorsport, both in M240i (#650) and in VT2-RWD (#500) classes, Rent2drive-Racing’s#700 BMW 325i SP3 and Ravenol Motorsports#277 318ti-SP3-SP3 scoring.
