BMW factory drivers Raffaele Marciello, Augusto Farfus and Dan Harper have become the first FIA World Endurance Championship racers to be confirmed as not participating in the Portimao GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS finale that clashes with the Barcelona WEC event.
Although efforts have been made by GTWC Europe organizer SRO Motorsports Group to move the three-hour Portimao race to the Sunday to avoid directly coinciding with the WEC contest, it was always expected that several teams would tweak their lineups to avoid the need for repeated travel between the two venues during the Oct. 16-18 weekend.
A total of 18 GTWC Europe regulars are also part of the WEC grid and it has been decided that Marciello, Farfus and Harper will all prioritize the WEC.
Marciello and Farfus were due to share the No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO at Portimao but their places alongside Jake Dennis will be taken by Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng — with both drivers having regularly raced for the team in recent years.
Meanwhile, Harper’s spot aboard the No. 46 WRT BMW he normally shares with Valentino Rossi and Max Hesse is due to be taken by Neil Verhagen.
Neither of the cars impacted were factors in the title race with the ROWE entry the highest-placed of the pair in the overall Endurance Cup standings in sixth position.
Several other crews are significantly impacted by the clash with four of the six Garage 59 McLaren WEC drivers also GTWC Europe competitors and team boss Andrew Kirkaldy previously told Sportscar365 that the events coinciding was a “big challenge” for teams.
One of that Garage 59 quartet, Antares Au, was due to race a Rutronik Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo at Portimao but it is believed he will also only contest the Barcelona event that weekend.
