The 2023 season is under starter’s orders. Race one of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) marks the official start of the 2023 motorsport year for ROWE RACING. The 68th ADAC Westfalenfahrt this coming Saturday (18th March) is the first race after the winter break for the team from St. Ingbert. It also sees ROWE RACING commence its preparations for the first highlight of the season, the ADAC 24h Nürburgring on 20th/21st May.
As usual, the team will run two BMW M4 GT3s at the opening round of the NLS season. New BMW M works driver Dries Vanthoor and the returning Maxime Martin will share the workload in the cockpits. This will give the two Belgians maximum time behind the wheel during their first outing with the BMW M4 GT3 in the “Green Hell”, and allow them to familiarise themselves with the team’s processes and ways of working. For Maxime Martin, this will be the first race with ROWE RACING for 1,994 days – since 1st October 2017 at Barcelona. His compatriot Dries Vanthoor, who claimed his second victory at the ADAC 24h Nürburgring in an Audi in 2022, is set to make his debut for the St. Ingbert team. The plan is for him to start in the #98 BMW M4 GT3, with Martin initially competing in the #99 car.
ROWE RACING is scheduled to take to the Nordschleife for their first time in the new season in a 90‑minute qualifying session between 8:30 and 10:00 on Saturday. The four‑hour race gets underway at the traditional NLS starting time of 12:00.
Hans-Peter Naundorf, Team Principal ROWE RACING: “Welcome to ROWE RACING, Dries and Maxime. We are very excited about our first day together with Dries Vanthoor at the racetrack, and will do our utmost to use this time to integrate him into our team, ensure he is familiar with our processes, and to adapt to his needs and way of working. With Maxime Martin, it will definitely just be a case of brushing up on these things, even though it is now more than five years since he last drove for us. However, one thing that is very new to both drivers is the BMW M4 GT3. This weekend they will contest a race on the Nordschleife for the first time with this car. We will give them as much driving time as possible on Saturday, in order to get used to the way the BMW M4 GT3 handles in the ‘Green Hell’.”