Even though Rowe Racing finished its VLN season with a strong performance they were not completely happy. At the ninth VLN round, their last scheduled participation of the current year in the VLN, Lance David Arnold, Kenneth Heyer and Stef Dusseldorp in the IGAT-SLS AMG GT3 finished in sixth place. Their joy about the top position, however, was clouded over a little due to the unlucky retirement of their sister car driven by Klaus Graf and Christian Hohenadel who had to retire 18 minutes before the end of the four hour race while they were in second place.
During the qualifying in the morning, both teams demonstrated that they were hungry for a success at the Rowe DMV 250-Miles Race that is considered to be the “home game” for the team of Rowe Racing. In difficult conditions at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the gullwing with start number 7 set second fastest time and the IGAT vehicle with start number 9 finished eighth. In the heavy traffic right after the start, both SLS AMG GT3 defended their positions. Thereafter, there was an exciting duel in the top group with their make colleagues of Black Falcon. Meanwhile the driver duo Graf and Hohenadel was leading the field comprising 133 cars at its fourth participation as a team in the current VLN season.
After the last scheduled pit stop, final driver Christian Hohenadel who was in second position convinced with fast lap times. His attack to the race leader was however suddenly stopped due to a broken wheel bearing. Two laps before the race end, Hohenadel had to stop the car at the pits without any chances to resume the race again. Start number 9 was fortunately not affected by any such problems. After 28 laps, final driver Stef Dusseldorp who at the same time made his debut in the GT3 at the Nordschleife crossed the finish line in sixth place.
Rowe Racing team manager Hans-Peter Naundorf: “This was of course not the final of the season for us that we had hoped for. If you are fighting in the leading group throughout the whole race, you definitely also wish to finish the race. It would for sure have been an exciting final part of the race because Christian completed super-fast lap times towards the end. In the sister car, I am particularly happy for Stef who made his fanstastic debut here at the Nordschleife under difficult conditions. I wish to thank everybody in the team and of course our fans and our partners for their brilliant support during the year!”
