Augusto Farfus and the BMW Team Schnitzer have missed out on a podium finish at the season finale of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Having already competed with the BMW Team Schnitzer at the FIA GT World Cup last week, Farfus finished the nine-hour race in Kyalami in seventh place in the cockpit of the BMW M6 GT3 he shared with team-mates Martin Tomczyk and Sheldon van der Linde. In the #34 BMW M6 GT3 from Walkenhorst Motorsport, Mikkel Jensen, Nick Catsburg and Christian Krognes finished in second position.
Farfus produced a great lap during his stint in Friday’s qualifying session to ensure that the team qualified for the pole shootout and was able to begin the race from sixth on the grid.
The #42 BMW M6 GT3 initially fell back through the field in the race before Farfus and his two team-mates put on a great chasing performance. At the halfway point of the race, the #42 BMW M6 GT3 was in a promising second place with every chance of a podium finish, but the advent of heavy rainfall led to an extended safety car phase.
“Ultimately, that was a funny old race and it was more of a lottery. For a while, it looked like we were in with a chance of winning it. But then I lost some places and had to battle my way back,” said Farfus, who had been in the lead during the safety car phase but then had to head for the pits once the race restarted.
“Twenty minutes before the finish, we were at the back of the field. I was able to move up to seventh place but that was the best I could do. I think that we deserved more but we just couldn’t finish it off. At least the team’s other car reached the podium. Overall, it’s been a great season with BMW and I would like to thank every single member of the team for that. We fought hard for it. Unfortunately, we didn’t achieve what we were aiming for.”
