Two-time CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa winner ROWE Racing has named a pair of strong line-ups for its 2023 Fanatec GT Endurance Cup programme with BMW.
The German squad triumphed at the Ardennes classic in 2016 and 2020, and showed well again last season with the new BMW M4 GT3. It will be among the favourites for victory in 2023, with its flagship #98 entry set to be driven by the highly accomplished trio of Marco Wittmann, Philipp Eng and Nick Yelloly.
Eng is already a two-time CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa winner with BMW and was part of the ROWE crew that conquered the marquee race in 2016. Wittmann has collected two DTM titles, while Yelloly possesses vast experience in GT racing and is also a respected Formula 1 simulator driver.
The sister car will run as #998 this term and features an unchanged line-up of Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen, who undertook the 2022 Endurance Cup as part of BMW's junior programme.
Despite their lack of experience the trio delivered several impressive showings, including a strong run at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, and were the only crew to complete every lap of the five-round championship. Indeed, all three have now been promoted to full factory driver status.
“ROWE Racing and BMW M Motorsport has been a successful combination for seven years," commented team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf. "An important piece of the puzzle for this success is continuity, and it is therefore nice for both sides to be able to continue this partnership in the years to come. Many thanks to Andreas Roos [head of BMW M Motorsport] and Björn Lellmann [customer sport director] for the trust placed in us.
"In Fanatec GT Europe we want to attack this year, because in this series the SRO offers a huge starting field at the very highest sporting level and spectacular races on some of the most well-known racetracks throughout Europe. All six of our drivers know the car and the team, and we've also planned extensive testing between races."
The 2023 season gets underway with next week's official Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS test days at Circuit Paul Ricard (7-8 March). The Endurance Cup campaign launches at Monza on 21-23 April, followed by trips to Circuit Paul Ricard (2–4 June), the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa (29 June–2 July), the Nürburgring (28–30 July) and Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya (29 September–1 October).