Rowe has the vitesse in france

GT WORLD CHALLENGE ENDURANCE CUP

PAUL RICARD (FRA)

7 APRIL

ROUND 1/5

Smarting from last year’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup title defeat, BMW bounced back to win the opening round of the 2024 championship at Paul Ricard. Once again, Rowe Racing outshone marque rival WRT, and it was Augusto Farfus, Max Hesse and Dan Harper who teamed up to win the three-hour race.

Qualifying had looked good for Lamborghini, with the combined efforts of Mirko Bortolotti, Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Caldarelli good enough for pole in the Iron Lynx Huracan, and it was Bortolotti who led away. It was a messy first hour, however. There was a first-lap safety car to replace bollards that had been scattered across Provence from Turn 1 zealotry, a second when the lighting gantry needed attention, and a third, longer period after David Pittard’s Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage caught alight on the Mistral straight.

The interruptions meant that the race never really flowed, but Bortolotti held the lead to the first stops when he relayed Caldarelli. It was the chasing CLRT Porsche of Ayhancan Guven that gained, the Turk having closed before the end of the first stint, and the black 911 GT3-R jumped ahead on its release, Dorian Boccolacci at the wheel. But the 911 still had an earthing cable attached, and hence a meatball flag was shown, bringing Boccolacci in for an unscheduled stop. That left Caldarelli in the lead, but the next threat came from Harper’s Rowe BMW M4.

The Northern Irishman, carrying on the good work of a feisty Farfus in the opening stint, attacked Caldarelli wherever he could, but the wily Italian made the Huracan as wide as possible. Behind, Nick Yelloly in the second Rowe BMW was closing, prompting Harper to have a dive on the inside at Le Beausset on lap 43. Caldarelli fought back but it was to no avail, Harper making sure of the lead by the end of the lap.

Rowe couldn’t relax yet, though, as there was an investigation into Farfus passing Jules Gounon’s GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG on the opening lap with all four wheels over the track-marking white line, although the stewards found nothing untoward. And then, on the final round of stops, trouble hit the second car of Yelloly when he handed