ROWE Racing has added a second Porsche 911 GT3 R for this weekend’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup opener at Monza, with Porsche factory driver Romain Dumas among the driver lineup.

The German team, which switched to Porsche machinery for its Blancpain GT entry this season, originally planned to enter just one car for the full five-race championship, and a second at the Total 24 Hours of Spa.

Dirk Werner, Dennis Olsen and Matt Campbell will, as planned, continue to drive the full-season No. 99 entry, but are joined by a second car this weekend at Monza.

Dumas will share the No. 98 Porsche with Sven Mueller and Mathieu Jaminet, the same trio that finished third in last month’s California 8 Hours.

The team is now planning to run both cars for the full season.

“We’re all really looking forward to the start of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup season and are excited for our first race with our new Porsche 911 GT3 R,” commented team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf.

“It’s fantastic that we’re able to field a second car in Monza already, and then in the remaining races of the season as well, even if this made the preparations for the opening race very intense and stressful.

“We’ve worked almost round the clock these past few days to send two well prepared cars to Italy today. Our additional trio of drivers have already proven their skills at the Intercontinental GT Challenge in Laguna Seca.

“It is a real honor to have Romain Dumas in the team. He really is fast in any car, whether in a sports car, prototype, rally car or electric racer, and has won everything that it’s possible to win in motorsport.

“It’s fantastic for our team to be able to work with a driver like him.”

Porsche had previously confirmed a full-season Endurance Cup commitment for Dumas, Mueller and Jaminet, as part of the German manufacturer’s expanded GT3 effort.