ROWE Race wins the opener in the south of France! / GT World Challenge

As in 2023, ROWE Racing won the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season opener! At Le Castellet, after three hours, Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper and Max Hesse took the overall victory. For three it is the first overall win in the SRO series. Harper took the lead with about 80 minutes to go before the car cruised to a comfortable race win.

Second place went to the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Hurácan GT3 of Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Matteo Cairoli, which started the race from pole position. At the end of the race, the green Lamborghini was 13.519 seconds behind the M4 GT3 winner.

The podium rows are completed by the GetSpeed ​​​​Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller and Jules Gounon.

Valentino Rossi finished the race in fourth place along with his two BMW co-drivers. This means that the nine-time motorcycle world champion can look forward to his best result in the Endurance Cup. Marciello, as the last driver, fought off only fourth place from Sven Müller’s Rutronik Racing Porsche in the final lap of the race!

The Sainteloc Racing Audi of Gilles Magnus, Jim Pla and Paul Evrard wins the Gold Cup. The R8 LMS GT3 finished the race in 14th place overall.

WINWARD Racing can be happy about its victory in the Silver Cup. Tanart Sathienthirakul, Daan Arrow and Colin Caresani won the class in 19th place overall.

Kessel Racing celebrates a triumphant return to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and success in the Bronze Cup. Nicolo Rosi, Niccolo Schiro and David Fumanelli won the classification.

After eight minutes, race officials called the safety car to the field. Dirt was left on the course due to contact during the start phase and had to be recovered.

But moments after the restart, the safety car was called to the track again. Strange reason for the change: Technical problems with the traffic lights on the finish straight.

WRT drama after about half an hour of racing. Charles Weerts collided with Alessio Rovera’s Ferrari. The BMW was punctured, which resulted in the loss of large chunks of dirt on the Mistral straight. To recover from this, the race was eliminated with a full yellow phase, which was later extended to a safety car phase.

After 53 minutes of the race, David Pittard’s Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin caught fire after technical problems. Pittard was able to leave the car unscathed, but the race had to be stopped again.

Things also got serious during pit stops during reckless driving. Dorain Boccolacci took the lead at the stop, but tore one of the team’s cables, which was attached to the back of the car. Race officials called the flagged car back to the pits to remove the cable. As a result, the black Porsche of the team of Edouard Schumacher and Côme Ledogar fell back to the end of the field.

Results (Top 10):

1. Augusto Farfus/Dan Harper/Max Hesse – ROWE Racing – BMW M4 GT3
2. Andrea Caldarelli/Matteo Cairoli/Mirko Bortolotti – Iron Lynx – Lamborghini Hurácan GT3
3. Luca Stolz/Fabian Schiller/Jules Gounon – Team Mercedes-AMG GetSpeed ​​​​– Mercedes-AMG GT3
4. Maxime Martin/Raffaele Marciello/Valentino Rossi – WRT Team – BMW M4 GT3
5. Julien Andlauer/Patric Niederhauser/Sven Müller – Rutronik Racing – Porsche 911 GT3 R
6. Christopher Haase/Alex Arkin Aka/Ricardo Feller – Attempto Racing – Audi R8 LMS GT3
7. Mattia Drudi/Marco Sörensen/Nicki Thiim – Comtoyou Racing – Aston Martin Vantage GT3
8. Klaus Bachler/Alex Malykhin/Joel Sturm – Pure Rxcing – Porsche 911 GT3 R
9. Alessio Rovera/Davide Rigon/Alessandro Pier Guidi – AF Corse – Ferrari 296 GT3
10. Christopher Mies/Frédéric Vervisch/Dennis Olsen – Proton Racing – Ford Mustang GT3