12.04.2024
The short and intensive preparation phase for the Nürburgring 24 Hours (GER, 1st/2nd June) reaches its climax this coming weekend at the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers. There, BMW M Motorsport teams RMG and ROWE Racing will compete in important preparatory races for the season highlight. Nine BMW M works drivers will be deployed in three BMW M4 GT3s.
Nürburgring. The short and intensive preparation phase for the Nürburgring 24 Hours (GER, 1st/2nd June) reaches its climax this coming weekend at the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers. There, BMW M Motorsport teams RMG and ROWE Racing will compete in important preparatory races for the season highlight. Nine BMW M works drivers will be deployed in three BMW M4 GT3s.
BMW M Team RMG is once again relying on a young, highly talented line-up of drivers in 2024, with three members of the Gen2K group created by BMW M Motorsport (BMW M works drivers born in 2000 or later). Dan Harper (GBR) and Max Hesse (GER) will compete for the fourth time together with the team led by Team Principal Stefan Reinhold in the top class at the 24-hour race. Joining them in the cockpit of the #72 BMW M4 GT3, sporting the design of BMW M Motorsport Premium Technology Partner Shell, is Charles Weerts (BEL). The 23-year-old will make his debut at the 24h Nürburgring but already has an impressive and successful GT3 career, especially in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, where he was the overall winner in 2021. In recent weeks, Weerts, Harper, and Hesse have already completed several test laps on the Nordschleife and have been intensively preparing for their race entries.
ROWE Racing will field two cars. This coming weekend, BMW M works drivers Raffaele Marciello (SUI), Maxime Martin (BEL), and Marco Wittmann (GER) will take turns in the #98 BMW M4 GT3. In the sister #99 car, Augusto Farfus (BRA), Sheldon van der Linde (RSA), and Dries Vanthoor (BEL) will be in the cockpit. As the seventh driver, Robin Frijns (NED) will compete in the 24-hour race, however he will be absent from the Qualifiers due to a scheduling conflict with Formula E. Nevertheless, Frijns has also managed to complete several test laps on the Nordschleife in the past weeks.
At the season opener of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) last weekend, no BMW M4 GT3 could take part because most drivers were participating in the concurrent GT World Challenge Europe event at Le Castellet (FRA), where Harper, Hesse, and Farfus won together with the ROWE Racing Team.
BMW is the official vehicle partner of the Nürburgring.
Good news for all BMW fans came a few weeks ago at the start of the Nürburgring season. From the 2024 season, BMW is the official vehicle partner of the Nürburgring. At least until 2026, the service and track safety vehicles for the racetrack staff will come from BMW. In addition to the existing commitment of BMW M at the Nürburgring, the newly decided vehicle partnership represents a further expansion of collaboration and the presence of BMW at the legendary racetrack.
A total of 25 new BMWs will initially strengthen the Nürburgring’s fleet. Nine of them will be used on the racetrack as part of track safety. Eight BMW 3 Series Touring and one BMW X1 will be deployed on the Nordschleife and Grand Prix circuit to ensure safety. For this purpose, the vehicles will be given a distinctive Nürburgring design with warning elements to be easily noticed by all racetrack users, such as tourist drivers or participants in driver training sessions. As service vehicles, the 1 Series, 3 Series, and the X1 and X3 will be available to employees, also featuring design elements of the Nürburgring silhouette and the Nürburgring logo, making them appealing representatives of the versatile event location.
Comments on the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers:
Andreas Roos (Head of BMW M Motorsport): “The 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers are very important for us, as they are every year. This coming weekend, we will test all our race procedures and prepare ourselves as well as possible for the season highlight. Our advantage is that the BMW M Motorsport engineers, as well as our teams ROWE Racing and RMG, have a lot of experience on the Nordschleife and do not need much time to optimally adjust to the 24-hour race. Accordingly, we approach the coming weeks with confidence. Seeing that BMW is now even more prominently represented at the Nürburgring as the official vehicle partner pleases me greatly. The brand is extremely popular with fans – whether in racing or for everyone on the road.”
Stefan Reinhold (Team Principal BMW M Team RMG): “This season, the preparation for the 24-hour race is extremely short. Therefore, the two races we will compete in this coming weekend are all the more important. Our team now has experience on the Nordschleife, which will surely help us. Nevertheless, it is always about training all procedures under competitive conditions to be optimally coordinated when it comes to racing in the big one in June. We have already completed several test days under various weather conditions in advance, during which we covered many kilometres and collected valuable data. Our new driver Charles Weerts also had plenty of time to adjust to our team and the BMW M4 GT3 on the Nordschleife. He has made a great impression and harmonises very well with Dan Harper and Max Hesse. I am convinced that we will present ourselves as a strong team.”
Hans-Peter Naundorf (Team Principal ROWE Racing): “After the fantastic start to the season at Le Castellet, we want to continue in the same vein this coming weekend. The Qualifiers are not just a preparation programme for the big race at the beginning of June for us. We want to race this weekend, push hard, and as always, fight for podium places. Our driver line-up is already well sorted out; five of the six BMW M works drivers who will be competing this weekend know the team and our processes, some for many years. The schedule gives us enough opportunity to give Raffaele Marciello as many kilometres as possible in the BMW M4 GT3 on the Nordschleife.”
