With the ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen, the first highlight of the Nürburgring Endurance Series season 2023 is coming up on 8 July. Over the XXL distance – 50 per cent more than the regular NLS races – the cards will be reshuffled. More points will be awarded to the winners in the individual classes, so there could be some movement in the championship. Tickets for the race under the name sponsorship of NLS sponsor ROWE are available at VLN.de/tickets starting at 20 euros, children up to 14 years of age have free entry. A popular selfie motif will be the ‘Racebot’ in the pit lane and on the starting grid. Music will be presented by Red Bull’s spectacular DJ mobile which will create a party atmosphere between practice and the race at the end of the pit lane and later in the Brünnchen. Those who cannot be on site will have the opportunity to follow the action in the Green Hell via livestream on VLN.de from 8:15 a.m. onwards.
Support for last year’s winners: Falken Motorsports has engaged David Pittard, one of the winning Frikadelli drivers of the 24h Race at the Nürburgring. Before that, the Briton had already caused a stir at the Green Hell in the Walkenhorst-BMW and claimed two victories. Together with Joel Eriksson, Pittard will drive the number 3 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Dennis Fetzer and Martin Ragginger will take turns in the sister car. The goal is clearly defined. After the team around NLS partner Falken already showed an impressive performance over the longer distances last year, the aim is to be successful again this time.
However, there are some teams that want to challenge the Falken for this success, above all the aforementioned Walkenhorst team. Jakub ‘Kuba’ Giermaziak and Christian Krognes took the second victory for the team from Melle in the BMW M4 GT3 at NLS4 and they are also among the favourites for the 6h Race. The same applies to their team mates Thomas Neubauer, Niklas Krütten and Dylan Pereira in the sister car. After finishing third at the last round, Maxime Dumarey and Mike David Ortmann also got a taste of success in the PROsport-Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Schnitzelalm Racing already celebrated a podium finish at the opening race. At NLS5, Patrick Assenheimer, Marcel Marchewicz and Tim Neuser will start the race in the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Drift guru Kiki Sak Nana will celebrate a comeback in the NLS. The Thai will share the cockpit of the Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup MR from mcchip-dkr with ‘Dieter Schmidtmann’ and Chistoph Breuer. Kiki competed in the team’s BMW M240i Racing Cup earlier at the 24h Race. In the NLS, he already took two class victories in 2016 in the Porsche Cup class at the time. The 6h Race will also see a return of the Girls-Only team. In the BMW M4 GT4 of GITI TIRE MOTORSPORT BY WS RACING, Fabienne Wohlwend, Célia Martin and Beitske Visser will take turns.
More points to gain at the 6h Race
In the championship, first place is solidly held by Adrenalin Motorsport Team Motec. With four wins from four races, the trio of Daniel Zils, Oskar Sandberg and Philipp Leisen in the BMW 330i and Yannick Fübrich, Sven Markert and Nils Steinberg in the BMW M240i Racing Cup are in the lead of the championship with 60 points. Eight points behind is Heiko Eichenberg, who will compete for SRS Team Sorg Rennsport in the CUP3 with a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS. Third place is shared by Marcus Willhardt, Michael Bohrer and Gerrit Holthaus who will start in the Hyundai i30N Fastback in class V2T-FWD as well as Daniel Mertens, Christian Dannesberger and Norbert Fischer. The trio will start in the same class with a Hyundai i30N, entered by Zierau Hochvolt by Mertens Motorsport. With 45 points behind, both teams currently have, however, a considerable gap to the top with 45 points.
A top result at the ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen is literally worth its weight in gold, because the longer distance also means more points for the win – 19 instead of 15. And even if the positions seem to be settled at the moment, NLS5 just marks the hilltop festival in the 2023 season. Five races are still on the calendar. And at the end of the year, two results will be dropped, so a lot of things can still change in the drivers’ standings.
In the medienkraftwerk Junior Trophy, Adrenalin driver Nils Steinberg (BMW M240i Racing Cup) leads the table. Anton Ruf from Smyrlis Racing (BMW M240i Racing Cup), Nico Otto from Max Kruse Racing (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and last year’s champion Sindre Setsaas, who is driving a BMW 330i from FK Performance Motorsport this season, are in the chasing positions.
In the NLS Speed Trophy, Walkenhorst Motorsport (BMW M4 GT3, #34) made up a lot of points with their second win at NLS4 and are now in second place behind the BMW Junior Team which claimed one win and other top positions in the first third of the season. Leisen / Sandberg / Zils are in the lead in the Production Car Trophy.
Adrenalin Motorsport Team Motec leads four classes in the NIMEX Team Trophy (BMW M240i, V5, V6 and VT2-R+4WD). Other leading teams are Zierau Hochvolt by Mertens Motorsport (VT2-FWD), Team Mathol Racing e.V. (VT3), Car Competition Racing Team (SP3), 9and11 Racing (SP7), équipe vitesse (SP9 Am), CP Racing (SP9 Pro-Am), BMW Junior Team (SP9), FK Performance Motorsport (SP10), Schmickler Performance powered by Ravenol (SP3T), HYRacing-AMC Sankt Vith (SP4T), Four Motors Bioconcept-Car (AT(-G)) and asBest RACING (TCR).
Tickets for the fifth 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 paddock, the pit lane, on the starting grid and into the motorsport experience museum ring°werk.
