Ready, Set, Go! Next weekend, the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie opens the racing season at the Nürburgring – with a double-header. On 6 and 7 April, the traditional Nordschleife racing series will kick off races one and two of the season. Former F1 drivers Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi will be among those taking part as prominent ‘driving students’ and the next generation of endurance racing on the Nordschleife. Former DTM driver Robert Wickens, who is paraplegic following an IndyCar crash in 2018, will also be making his racing comeback in Germany. Four hours of action on the most beautiful and difficult track in the world are on the programme on both days of the event. The race starts at 12 noon. Tickets are available at vln.de/tickets and those staying at home can follow the action in the Green Hell via livestream.
More than a dozen GT3 cars are on the grid at the Nordschleife season opener. There are many favourites for victory on the day, with the two Porsche teams Manthey EMA and Falken Motorsports leading the way. The RED BULL TEAM ABT and Konrad Motorsport are relying on Lamborghini Huracán GT3s. PROsport Racing and Dörr Motorsport will field Aston Martin Vantage GT3s, HRT will enter two Mercedes-AMG GT3s and the Scherer Sport PHX and équipe vitesse teams will field two Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2s. The Renazzo Motorsport Team and JUTARACING will make their debut in the NLS. Two new names, familiar faces: Renazzo’s Lamborghini will be shared by Thai drift champion Kiki Sak Nana, Christoph Breuer and ‘Dieter Schmidtmann’, while Alexey Veremenko and ‘SELV’ will take turns in Juta’s Audi R8 LMS GT3. Both drove PETN Cup cars in 2023. Glickenhaus Racing is celebrating a comeback. The racing team led by automotive enthusiast James Glickenhaus is returning to the Eifel with the spectacular SCG004c. In addition to regular drivers Thomas Mutsch and Franck Mailleux, Lance David Arnold will be taking part for the first time.
Renowned ‘learner drivers’ strive for big goals
GT3 on the Nordschleife – that is certainly the goal of Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi. However, in order to be allowed to drive the thoroughbred racing cars in the NLS and the 24-hour race, even the celebrities have to go back to driving school. Races must be completed with relatively low-performance vehicles in order to obtain the so-called DMSB Permit Nordschleife (DPN). This is done for safety reasons, as the Nordschleife is not only unique as a race track. In combination with the multiclass field of participants – from production-based touring cars to GT3 racers – it is anything but ordinary. Even for the professionals, it is an impressive experience to see how you are lapped by the big cars. Glock starts in the BMW M240i from Up2Race, Kobayashi in the Toyota Supra Evo GT4 from Toyota Gazoo Racing. Other notable ‘student drivers’ are the two DTM drivers Jack Aitken, who will start the race in a Hyundai i30N from Walkenhorst Motorsport, Thierry Vermeulen, who will drive a Porsche Cayman GT4 CS from Lionspeed GP, and David Schumacher, who will compete for Teichmann Racing. World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson (Sharky Racing, Audi RS3 TCR) and three-time World Rally Championship runner-up Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota Yaris) will be represented from the off-road segment.
Inspiration and role model: Robert Wickens returns to Germany
Robert Wickens has proven in recent years that he is a real fighter. Known to German fans primarily for his time as a Mercedes-AMG works driver in the DTM, the likeable Canadian has a very special battle behind him. A racing accident in the US Indycar changed his life abruptly in 2018. The diagnosis: a fractured thoracic spine, a spinal cord injury, a broken neck, tibia and fibula fractures in both legs, fractures in both hands, a broken right forearm, a broken elbow, a concussion, four broken ribs and a bruised lung. The fans were shocked. But anyone who followed Wickens on Instagram quickly realised that he was not willing to accept his situation. His passion for motorsport was too great. Wickens documented his way back in detail. And despite his paraplegia, the first successes soon followed. Wickens fought his way back onto the track. 1,258 days after his accident, he drove his first car race in the American IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in a Hyundai Elantra N TCR in 2022. A year later, he won the TCR championship. Now it’s time for the next step: Wickens returns to Germany for the NLS season opener. To race, that goes without saying. Together with Mark Wilkins, he will contest the two 4-hour races for the Target Competition team. The Hyundai Elantra N TCR is equipped with hand throttle control.
The daughters and sons of the successful Nordschleife drivers move up the ranks
The names Schall, Fritzsche and Jodexnis are well known to connoisseurs of the scene. The fathers have 199 class victories to their credit. Now the daughters and sons are at the start. Daughter Janina is now following in the footsteps of her father Ralf Schall, who took 105 class victories in the NLS alone. Just 19 years old, she is contesting her first NLS race on the Nordschleife with the GITI TIRE MOTORSPORT BY WS RACING team in a BMW 330i in the VT2-R+4WD class. Last year, Janina already gained experience in the performance tests of the Rundstrecken Challenge Nürburgring. At 36, Pascal Fritzsche, son of five-time NLS champion Heinz-Otto Fritzsche, is also still at the beginning of his racing career on the Nordschleife. He contested his first five Nordschleife races in 2023. In the 2024 season opener, he will compete in the Hyundai i30N Performance from Keeevin Sports and Racing. At 27 years of age, Richard Jodexnis is in the middle of the pack. The son of long-time NLS driver Kersten Jodexnis also made his debut in 2023. This year, he is competing with SRS Team Sorg Rennsport in the GT4 SP10 class in a Porsche Cayman GT4. While Ralf Schall and Heinz-Otto Fritzsche will only be at the Nürburgring as spectators, Kersten Jodexnis is still active himself. Together with Robin Chrzanowski, he will be driving the ClickversicherungsTEAM Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
Strong new addition at #1
Last season’s championship-winning team has a strong new addition. In addition to champions Daniel Zils and Philipp Leisen, fast driver Moran Gott will also be competing in the BMW 330i of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhatten Wheels in 2024. The London-based Israeli has been one of the Adrenalin team’s strongest opponents in recent years. Oskar Sandberg, who won the title in 2023 together with Zils and Leisen, will compete in Dörr Motorsport’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the up-and-coming GT4 class, which is very well filled with 15 cars at the season opener.
Two days of full-throttle action
The 64th ADAC ACAS Cup on Saturday and the 63rd ADAC Reinoldus endurance race on Sunday will each run over a distance of four hours. Tickets for the opening race of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie are available for 22 euros (children up to 14 years free of charge) at vln.de/tickets and at the box offices. These tickets will take you to the open grandstands on the Grand Prix circuit, the exclusive spectator areas Brünnchen and Pflanzgarten as well as the paddock, the pit lane, the starting grid and the ring°werk motorsport experience museum.
The positions on the starting grid will be determined in qualifying between 08:30 and 10 a.m. on both days. Fans can then experience motorsport with all their senses during the pit walk from 10:20 and the visit to the starting grid from 11:10. The Nürburgring mascot ‘Legend’ and the impressive Racebot will also be there on Saturday. On Sunday, Skye & Chase from Paw Patrol, who have become big fans of the NLS in recent years, will be dropping by. The race starts at 12 noon.
