Why the Rowe Team is turning its focus back to endurance racing after just one DTM year, what the 2022 programme looks like and what this means for the DTM
The Rowe team will no longer be competing in the DTM in 2022 and, in addition to its traditional entry in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, is turning its focus to the five endurance races of the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE).
But how do you explain the DTM withdrawal? “We got involved in the DTM in 2021 because we wanted to be part of the new GT3 era of the series and see how that would fit for us,” says team boss Hans-Peter Naundorf.
“However, we have established Rowe Racing primarily as an endurance team over the last ten years. That’s where we can best bring our great strengths in strategy, reliability as well as fault management. “
DTM 2022: Everything speaks for Walkenhorst and Schubert
For 2022 “and the coming years, the opportunity has arisen to compete again in the 24 Hours of Spa in addition to our usual Nürburgring programme,” he explains. Therefore, he says, they have “decided together with our partners” to contest the GTWCE endurance races with the new BMW M4 GT3. The team plans to field two cars.
While in the DTM everything points to the Walkenhorst and Schubert teams entering the BMW M4 GT3, the Rowe team from St. Ingbert is, according to information from 2022, the BMW-supported entry team in the SRO series. A contract that Walkenhorst had last year. The squad from Melle, on the other hand, will compete in the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps this year – the highlight of the GTWCE season – with a private entry.
The BMW M4 GT3 will make its racing debut in Rowe colours on 3 April at the GTWCE season opener in Imola. In addition to further rounds at the current Formula 1 circuits in Le Castellet in the south of France and at the season finale in Barcelona, a home race at the Hockenheimring on 4 September is also on the agenda. The driver line-ups will be announced “at a later date”, according to the press release.
Rowe team on the grid for both 24-hour classics
The 2022 programme means that this year, for the first time since 2020, they will be competing in both the Spa 24 Hours on 30 and 31 July and the Nordschleife classic on 28 And 29 May. The last time so far, they won both races.
However, the Nürburgring-Nordschleife will remain the team’s sporting home in 2020. In addition to the 24-hour classic, they will complete two races in the Nürburgring Long Distance Series NLS (formerly VLN) in 2022 and the new 24h Qualifyers with two further rounds.