ROWE Racing’s #99 BMW M4 GT3 scored an impressive victory in the opening round of the 2023 NLS season at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, as part of a bumper grid for the first four-hour race of the year.
Dries Vanthoor and Maxime Martin shared the SP9 class M4 GT3 for their first win together on the Nordschleife, and crossed the line after 28 laps just 6.4 seconds ahead of the #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II. It was a battle to the flag, as the Audi came close to chasing down and making a pass for the lead in the closing stages during Kim-Luis Schramm’s stint.
During the final laps the gap between Schramm and Vanthoor came down to under 2 seconds, but in the end, Code 60s separated the two cars multiple times and helped Vanthoor hold the lead in the ROWE M4 GT3. In the race Vanthoor and Martin had two chances at victory, as the duo drove the sister #98 ROWE BMW too. The car was parked 15 laps into the race once it became clear which one was in the best position to win.
“Everything was new here for Maxime and me, but the car is great on the Nordschleife,” said Vanthoor. “The Audi behind me was quite strong at the end. Then, on the last lap, I pushed very hard and tried to pull away far enough. With a bit of luck, I was able to open up a bigger gap due to some traffic.”
With the teams in the GT3 field relying on different strategies, the running order changed frequently, and ROWE’s eventual winning car didn’t manage to take the overall lead until the 22nd lap. Team Scherer Sport PHX’s Audi ran a similar strategy to the ROWE M4, but didn’t execute it quite as well.
“We lost a bit of time on the last pit stop as well,” said Schramm. ” Also, they were a little faster than us.”
Marcel Marchewicz and Marek Böckmann in the #11 Schnitzelalm Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 crossed the finish line 48.501 seconds behind, in third, making it three manufacturers on the podium.
“We worked a lot over the winter, both on the engineering side and we, the drivers, in the simulator,” said Marchewicz.
“The racing after the start was spectacular and there were a lot of nice overtaking manoeuvres. It was really fun to drive on the Nordschleife. We both almost drove for our lives today,” added Böckmann. In contrast to the other Mercedes teams, they rely on Goodyear tyres and already achieved fourth place in qualifying with them.”
Fourth to sixth in the overall classification also featured a car apiece from Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Audi Sport Team Car Collection finished ahead of the BMW Junior Team and Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein.
Behind them followed the cars new or relatively new to the NLS. The race debut for final version of the homologated 992-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R resulted in seventh place finish for Manthey EMA ahead of the Evo version of the Lamborghini Huracán entered by Abt Sportsline.
The debut for the Ferrari 296 GT3 in the hands of WTM by Rinaldi Racing was also successful with tenth place finish, ahead of the first of Falken Motorsports’ pair of new Porsche 911 GT3 R 99s that crossed the line 12th.
Frikadelli Racing’s new 296 GT3 also made it to the end, but came home 21st overall.
PROsport Racing fielded a pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in the race, one in SP9 Pro and one in SP9 Am, they came home 14th and 16th respectively.
Two notable entries in the GT3 ranks didn’t make the finish. The BMW M4 GT3 from 2023 Asian Le Mans Series GT champion Walkenhorst Motorsport, which initially took pole position with Jakub Giermaziak but retired with a puncture shortly a lap before the end.
The second Audi R8 LMS EVO GT3 from Scherer Sport PHX also failed to score a decent result, retiring due to accident damage a lap before the afformentioned Walkenhorst M4.
Further down the order in the classified finishers, KCMG, Toyo Tires With Ring Racing and Teichmann Racing all debuted the Toyota Supra GT4 evo package in the race. As part of a strong nine-car field, the Toyo Tires #170 entry finished highest up the order, claiming a third place finish and a haul of trophies. Up front Performance Motorsport’s #187 BMW M4 GT4 took the class win.
The second NLS race of the season will take place on April 1st. The NIMEX 47th DMV is a standard four-hour endurance race.
Images courtesy of Frozenspeed
