Philipp Eng and Alexander Sims, driving the #99 Rowe Racing M6 GT3, scored two podium finishes in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup on the Misano Circuit in Italy on April 9–10. Their second-place finish in the Saturday-night qualifying race was the first podium finish in Europe for an M6 GT3.
The M6 started the qualifying race on slicks, as did the Bentley Team M Sport Bentley Continental GT3 driven by Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet. Sims started near the back, struggling with the tire choice on a damp track for a time. The Bentley, which had started further up on the grid, fell back. As the track dried both cars moved forward, gaining an advantage on those who had started on wet weather tires when a full-course yellow came out. After pit stops Soulet led with Eng giving chase. The Bentley won, with the M6 second.
In Sunday’s main race on a dry track Eng took the lead from the Bentley at the start, but the Audi R8 LMS driven by Frédéric Vervisch got by about fifteen minutes into the race. The Audi, co-driven by Laurens Vanthoor, went on to win the race. Eng and Sims finished third behind the Audi and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Maxi Buch and Dominick Baumann.
A second Rowe M6 GT3 driven by Nick Catsburg and Stef Dusseldorp finished tenth on Saturday and 29th on Sunday. In the Pro-Am Class Matias Henkola and Maxime Martin finished second in class in the qualifying race and third in class in the main race in the Belgian Boutsen Ginion team’s M6 GT3.
The Blancpain Gt sprint series runs again on May 7-8 at Brands Hatch in the U.K.—Brian S. Morgan
