ROWE Racing is the motor racing team of the German lubricant manufacturer Rowe Mineralölwerk. Since 2011, ROWE Racing has competed in series such as the Nürburgring Endurance Series, the GT World Challenge Europe (former Blancpain GT Series), the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and the 24 Hours Nürburgring. In 2020 it won both the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours. In 2023 it won the Spa 24 Hours for the third time.
Team The team was founded in 2011 by Michael Zehe and Hans-Peter Naundorf. The operations of the racing team are made by Motorsport Competence Group AG (MCG AG) who is a development partner and service provider for the automotive and racing area.
Under the name Team ROWE Motorsport the team entered the VLN championship in 2009. Team co-owner Michael Zehe ran an Audi TT with Franz Rohr. In 2010 Michael Zehe, Marco Schelp and Alexander Roloff ran the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S during the season with occasional support from Mark Bullitt. Bullitt was a racing driver living in Germany but racing under an American licence. The team achieved a number of top ten overall finishes.
Mercedes-Benz years
Late 2010 Naundorf was contacted by ROWE Mineralölwerk GmbH CEO Michael Toe about entering a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 in GT races. Naundorf worked with Florian Rhotert to enter ROWE Racing in the VLN, a championship solely racing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The team entered three cars (one co-entered with Christian Mamerow) in the first race of the season, the 58th ADAC Westfalenfahrt. In the GT3 class the team entered two SLS AMG GT3 cars and one Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S. Only one SLS AMG GT3 took the start, which subsequently failed to finish. The Porsche finished the race in seventeenth place with drivers Michael Zehe, Alexander Roloff and Marco Schelp. After the first race the team decided to no longer enter the Porsche and focusing on entering three Mercedes-Benz sportscars. In the second round of the season the co-entered Mamerow/ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 won the race with Mamerow and Armin Hahne driving. The team with Zehe, Roloff and Roland Rehfeld won their second race near the end of the season during the 34th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen The teams best placed car in the 2011 24 Hours of Nürburgring finished seventeenth, the other two cars failed to finish.
Jan Seyffarth joined the team in VLN in 2012. Seyffarth and Roloff won the 52nd ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen with only a tiny margin of 0.338 seconds. When Thomas Jäger joined the team for the 6 hour ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen the team scored their second victory. The 2013 24 Hours of Nürburgring was very successful for the German team. ROWE Racing finished third and fourth. For the 2013 season Seyffarth ran the VLN races with various teammates. With Seyffarth, Lance David Arnold and Nico Bastian the team won the OPEL 6-Stunden ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen. The team won the race again the following year with Jäger and Serffarth. A new driver pairing of Christian Hohenadel and Maro Engel won the ROWE sponsored DMV 250-Meilen-Rennen in 2014 Renger van der Zande joined Engel and Seyffarth for the openingsrace of the VLN series. The race was cut short after a heavy crash by Jann Mardenborough in the GT Academy Nissan GT-R Nismo in which one spectator was killed. ROWE Racing was in the lead when the race was red flagged. Hohenadel and Klaus Graf scored the second season victory for the team at the 38th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen In 2015 the team also ran one round of the ADAC GT Masters series. Stef Dusseldorp and Nico Bastian represented the team at the Nürburgring finishing eleventh in race one and thirteenth in race two.
ROWE Racing first entered the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2015. The teams best finish was a fourth place at the 1000km Paul Ricard. At the prestigious 24 Hours of Spa the team (with Daniel Juncadella, Nico Bastian and Stef Dusseldorp) was in the lead at the 6 hour and 12 hour marks, scoring valuable points for the championship. A problem on the alternator caused the team to retire with less than sixty minutes to go. BMW Motorsport factory team Starting in 2016 the team received factory support by BMW Motorsport. The team entered two BMW F13 M6 GT3 cars in the Blancpain Endurance Series and Sprint Cup. After a fourth place at Silverstone the team picked up its first Blancpain Endurance Series win at the prestigious 24 Hours of Spa. In 2020 it won both the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours.
The team participated in the 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters by fielding two BMW M6 GT3 cars full-time. The cars were driven by BMW factory drivers Timo Glock and Sheldon van der Linde, with the latter scoring the team's best result of the season by finishing in fourth place on one occasion. On 15 February 2022, the team announced that it would not return to the series in 2022 and instead use the new BMW M4 GT3 cars for endurance racing. In 2023 it won the Spa 24 Hours for the third time.
Timeline
2000s 2010s 2020s091011121314151617181920212223242526VLNNLS 24 Hours of Nürburgring Blancpain Endurance Series (2015)Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup (2016-2019)GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (2020-)ADAC GT MastersBlancpain GT Series Sprint CupDTM
Competition Vehicles ROWE Racing competed with up to four Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 until 2016. The team ran the BMW M6 GT3 from 2016 till 2021. Since 2022 it runs the BMW M4 GT3.
Results
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points D.C. T.C.2021BMW M6 GT3 Sheldon van der Linde1601105511th7th Timo Glock160000917th
Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) 24 Hours of Nürburgring Year Team Car Car No. Drivers Class Laps 2010 Team ROWE Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S 18 Michael Zehe Marco Schelp Alexander Roloff Mark Bullitt SP9 GT3 150 8th 5th Audi TT 147 Franz Rohr Uwe Bleck Andreas Kast Michael Zehe SP3T 61 DNF DNF 2011 Mamerow/ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 30 Christian Mamerow Armin Hahne Pierre Kaffer SP9 GT3 49 DNF DNF ROWE Racing 36 Alexander Roloff Roland Rehfeld Hubert Haupt Marco Schelp SP9 GT3 58 DNF DNF 46 Michael Zehe Dominik Schwager Klaus Rader Mark Bullitt SP9 GT3 145 17th 12th 2012 ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 21 Michael Zehe Marko Hartung Roland Rehfeld Mark Bullitt SP9 GT3 150 10th 10th 22 Klaus Graf Thomas Jäger Alexander Roloff Jan Seyffarth SP9 GT3 120 DNF DNF 2013 ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 21 Marko Hartung Kenneth Heyer Roland Rehfeld Christian Hohenadel SP9 GT3 34 DNF DNF 22 Klaus Graf Nico Bastian Jan Seyffarth Thomas Jäger SP9 GT3 87 3rd 3rd 23 Lance David Arnold Alexander Roloff Jan Seyffarth Thomas Jäger SP9 GT3 87 4th 4th 2014 ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 22 Michael Zehe Nico Bastian Maro Engel Christian Hohenadel SP9 GT3 157 3rd 3rd 23 Klaus Graf Jan Seyffarth Thomas Jäger Richard Göransson SP9 GT3 147 DNF DNF 2015 ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 22 Jan Seyffarth Thomas Jäger Maro Engel Renger van der Zande SP9 GT3 61 DNF DNF 23 Klaus Graf Christian Hohenadel Thomas Jäger Nico Bastian SP9 GT3 145 DNF DNF 2016 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 22 Klaus Graf Richard Westbrook Markus Palttala Nicky Catsburg SP9 GT3 57 DNF DNF 23 Alexander Sims Philipp Eng Dirk Werner Maxime Martin SP9 GT3 133 5th 5th 2017 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 98 Markus Palttala Richard Westbrook Alexander Sims Nicky Catsburg SP9 158 2nd 2nd 99 Marc Basseng Philipp Eng Maxime Martin SP9 157 10th 10th 2018 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 98 John Edwards Richard Westbrook Tom Blomqvist Nicky Catsburg SP9 82 DNF DNF 99 Alexander Sims Jesse Krohn Connor De Phillippi Martin Tomczyk SP9 16 DNF DNF 2019 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 98 Connor De Phillippi Philipp Eng Tom Blomqvist Mikkel Jensen SP9 22 DNF DNF 99 Nicky Catsburg Marco Wittmann Jesse Krohn John Edwards SP9 8 DNF DNF 2020 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 98 Tom Blomqvist Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann SP9 85 4th 4th 99 Nicky Catsburg Alexander Sims Nick Yelloly SP9 85 1st 1st 2021 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 1 Nicky Catsburg John Edwards Philipp Eng Nick Yelloly SP9 42 DNF DNF 98 Connor De Phillippi Sheldon van der Linde Martin Tomczyk Marco Wittmann SP9 59 2nd 2nd 2022 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 98 Nicky Catsburg John Edwards Sheldon van der Linde Marco Wittmann SP9 Pro 47 DNF DNF 99 Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus Connor De Phillippi Nick Yelloly SP9 Pro 18 DNF DNF 2023 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 98 Sheldon van der Linde Maxime Martin Dries Vanthoor Marco Wittmann SP9 Pro 162 2nd 2nd 99 Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus Connor De Phillippi Nick Yelloly SP9 Pro 83 DNF DNF 2024 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 98 Augusto Farfus Raffaele Marciello Maxime Martin Marco Wittmann SP9 Pro 50 7th 7th 99 Augusto Farfus Robin Frijns Sheldon van der Linde Dries Vanthoor SP9 Pro 21 DNF DNF 2025 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo 98 Augusto Farfus Jesse Krohn Raffaele Marciello Kelvin van der Linde SP9 Pro 141 1st 1st 2026 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo 1 Augusto Farfus Raffaele Marciello Jordan Pepper Kelvin van der Linde SP9 Pro 49 DNF DNF 99 Dan Harper Max Hesse Sheldon van der Linde Dries Vanthoor SP9 Pro 156 3rd 3rd
Complete GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Blancpain Endurance Series (2015) Year Car No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 Pts 2015 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 98 Nicolai Sylvest Indy Dontje Daniel Juncadella Thomas Jäger Kenneth Heyer Miguel Toril MNZ SIL LEC SPA NÜR 12th 4599 Nico Bastian Stef Dusseldorp Klaus Graf Daniel Juncadella MNZ SIL LEC SPA NÜRBlancpain GT Series Endurance Cup (2016–2019) 2016 BMW M6 GT3 98 Stef Dusseldorp Lucas Luhr Jens Klingmann Nicky Catsburg Dirk Werner Tom Blomqvist Martin Tomczyk MNZ SIL LEC SPA NÜR 5th 6099 Philipp Eng Alexander Sims Dirk Werner Maxime Martin Stef Dusseldorp Nicky Catsburg MNZ SIL LEC SPA NÜR 2017 BMW M6 GT3 98 Bruno Spengler Markus Palttala Jesse Krohn Tom Blomqvist Nicky Catsburg MNZ SIL LEC SPA CAT 10th 2199 Philipp Eng Maxime Martin Alexander Sims MNZ SIL LEC SPA CAT 2018 BMW M6 GT3 98 Ricky Collard Jesse Krohn Jens Klingmann Nick Yelloly John Edwards Marco Wittmann Tom Blomqvist Nicky Catsburg MNZ SIL LEC SPA CAT 8th 4199 Alexander Sims Nicky Catsburg Marco Wittmann Jens Klingmann Jesse Krohn Connor De Phillippi Tom Blomqvist Chaz Mostert Philipp Eng MNZ SIL LEC SPA CAT 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 R 98 Romain Dumas Mathieu Jaminet Sven Müller MNZ SIL LEC SPA CAT 3rd 6599 Matt Campbell Dennis Olsen Dirk Werner MNZ SIL LEC SPA CAT998 Frédéric Makowiecki Patrick Pilet Nick Tandy MNZ SIL LEC SPA CATGT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (2020–) 2020 Porsche 911 GT3 R 98 Timo Bernhard Jeroen Bleekemolen Simona de Silvestro Earl Bamber Nick Tandy Laurens Vanthoor MNZ NÜR SPA LEC 6th 4599 Julien Andlauer Klaus Bachler Dirk Werner MNZ NÜR SPA LEC 2022 BMW M4 GT3 50 Dan Harper Max Hesse Neil Verhagen IMO LEC SPA HOC CAT 4th 6698 Augusto Farfus Nick Yelloly Nicky Catsburg Philipp Eng IMO LEC SPA HOC CAT 2023 BMW M4 GT3 98 Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann Nick Yelloly MNZ LEC SPA NÜR CAT 2nd 85998 Dan Harper Max Hesse Neil Verhagen MNZ LEC SPA NÜR CAT 2024 BMW M4 GT3 98 Marco Wittmann Philipp Eng Nick Yelloly Robin Frijns Maxime Oosten LEC SPA NÜR MNZ JED 7th 47998 Augusto Farfus Dan Harper Max Hesse LEC SPA NÜR MNZ JED 2025 BMW M4 GT3 Evo 98 Augusto Farfus Jesse Krohn Raffaele Marciello LEC MNZ SPA NÜR CAT 7th 64998 Philipp Eng Dan Harper Max Hesse LEC MNZ SPA NÜR CAT 2026 BMW M4 GT3 Evo 98 Jake Dennis Augusto Farfus Raffaele Marciello LEC MNZ SPA NÜR ALG 998 Ugo de Wilde Jens Klingmann Tim Tramnitz LEC MNZ SPA NÜR ALG ‡Guest entry, ineligible to score points
References
External links
Website of ROWE MINERALÖLWERK GMBH Website of MCG AG