Fans of the Nürburgring Endurance Series were forced to be patient for two months. This Saturday, things will finally get moving again in the Green Hell. With the 46th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen, the long-established Nordschleife championship will start into the second third of the season on 17 June. Action will this time not only be provided on the race track, but also in the paddocks. For the first time, there will be a fan area with snacks, a bouncy castle and seating with a view onto the track. With Skye and Chase from Paw Patrol, two good old friends, who will not only make the children’s eyes light up, will attend the event. Between practice and the race, the Red Bull DJ mobile will provide the right soundtrack at the end of the pit lane and later in the Brünnchen. Tickets are available from 20 euros at vln.de/tickets, children up to 14 years of age have free admission.
When the more than 250 drivers will take up the chase in the Green Hell at noon on Saturday, some of them will be making their personal debut – each in their own individual way. For the first time this year, octane126 will be at the start in the NLS. The Ferrari team from Switzerland has upgraded and will in future be relying on the new 296 GT3. The drivers Luca Ludwig, Björn Grossmann and Jonathan Hirschi will also be competing in the NLS for the first time in 2023. octane126 attracted attention at the 12h Nürburgring 2022 when they finished in second place at the end of the first race session. Their best team result dates back to 2020 when the team clinched a podium position with third place at the 6h Race.
Another protagonist is Niklas Krütten. The 20-year-old was vice-champion in the Junior classification of the ADAC GT Masters last year and is now for the first time competing in the BMW M4 GT3 from Walkenhorst Motorsport. He will share the car with Dylan Pereira, among others. The driver from Luxembourg, who caused a stir in the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland with his third place in the championship, started in the Cup 911 at NLS1+2 and is now looking for a new challenge with the GT3 racer. Third in the group is Thomas Neubauer. The Frenchman has been in the cockpit for Walkenhorst several times in the NLS since 2021. Last weekend he competed in the GTE class at the Le Mans race. At the Sarthe, he retired early with the JMW Motorsport team. He now wants to get back on track at the Nordschleife with his two new team-mates.
The Mercedes-AMG GT2 celebrated its Nordschleife debut at the Qualifiers for the ADAC 24h Nürburgring. Now the ‘Made in Affalterbach’ racer with up to 700 hp will also be used in the NLS. Schnitzelalm Racing has entered Peter Posavac and JayMo Härtling to drive the most powerful race car in the field. Compared to the GT3 cars, however, the GT2 has much less sophisticated aerodynamics so that the duo will not be able to beat the “top dogs” in purely conceptual terms. Nevertheless, a respectable success is possible.
On both a small and a large level, there are many interesting topics at races. After a one-and-a-half-year abstinence, LifeCarRacing is returning to the NLS. Thomas Leyherr and Klaus Faßbender are hereby moving up from the BMW M240i Racing Cup into a BMW M2 CS Racing. The spectators’ darlings from Olli’s Garage have also upgraded. After an accident at the 24h Race, the iconic Dacia is history for the time being. But this is no reason for Oliver Kriese to bury his head in the sand. With a lot of support from the fan community, the team will compete in the Grenzlandrennen with a Renault Megane (RS). For Kriese and Maximilian Weissermel, this also means a change of class: in future, the duo will be racing in the VT2-FWD, one of the best-filled classes in the NLS.
A diverse range of attractions in the paddocks for young and old
As if the high-quality and varied line-up of drivers and cars wasn’t reason enough to visit the Nürburgring on Saturday – the NLS will be staging a number of attractions in the paddocks, aimed at the whole family. After the drivers have worked out their grid positions in Qualifying from 08:30 to 10 a.m., a visit to the pit lane and the starting grid are part of the regular programme for real fans. New at NLS4 is the fan area with snack offers. Juicy burgers, high-quality barista coffee and fresh waffles ensure culinary delights. Meanwhile, the young fans can let off steam to their hearts’ content in the bouncy castle. A meet & greet with the two walking acts from Paw Patrol – Skye and Chase – is scheduled for 1 p.m.. The spectacular DJ mobile from Red Bull will provide the musical setting, creating a party atmosphere between practice and the race at the end of the pit lane and later in the Brünnchen.
From Friday in the App Store: The digital NLS Guide enhances the on-site experience
For those who regularly visit the NLS as spectators on the ground, the new NLS Guide is highly recommended. It is available free of charge in the Apple and Google app stores. Detailed information on the event ensures that fans no longer miss any of the highlights. With the exclusive NLS Family Specials, users benefit from attractive offers and discount codes from the NLS partners. The popular features of the NLS website – livestream, live timing and ticker – are also included. And with the NLS guide, ‘Radio Nürburgring’ also celebrates its comeback. In cooperation with RPR1, the track commentary is available on mobile phones. The pure audio stream saves a lot of data volume.
Tickets for the fourth race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series are available for 20 euros (children up to 14 years free of charge) at vln.de/tickets and at the box offices. This will get you into the open grandstands at the Grand Prix circuit, the exclusive spectator areas Brünnchen and Pflanzgarten as well as into the paddocks, the pit lane, on the starting grid and into the motorsport experience museum ring°werk.
