The new champions of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie are Sven Markert, Ranko Mijatovic and Toby Goodman. Driving the BMW M240i Racing of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels, the trio took their sixth class victory in the eighth race and crowned their season with the title in the most popular national racing series in 2024. The last victory of the year went to Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf in the 56th ADAC Barbarossapreis. Lucas Auer and Mikaël Grenier prevailed in a thrilling finish against Morris Schuring and Ayhancan Güven in the Manthey-Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
For long periods of the 2024 season, team principal Matthias Unger did not believe that he would celebrate his seventh consecutive title. In the end, Markert, Mijatovic and Goodman achieved the seemingly impossible. The trio had already had one crash barrier contact during the test on Friday due to ABS problems on the Cup BMW. The mechanics did everything they could to get the car ready for the race. They managed to do so, but there was another slight impact in training. The Adrenalin team also mastered this hurdle with flying colours. In the race, there was only one chance for Markert, Mijatovic and Goodman: they had to win their class to catch up with Joshua Bednarski, Lucas Daugaard and Moritz Oberheim in the AVIA W&S Motorsport Porsche Cayman at the top of the table. But even with the win in the bag, Adrenalin would have missed out if W&S had managed a class win. After 15 laps, the Cayman retired with a technical defect. Markert, Mijatovic and Goodman, meanwhile, drove to a commanding class win and were able to celebrate at the end.
‘After our retirement at NLS3, we had almost given up on the championship,’ said Goodman. “The fact that we are still at the top now shows that you should never give up and always keep fighting, even when the situation seems impossible.” Markert added: ’Without the strong performance of Adrenalin Motorsport, we would never have won this title. The guys fought harder today than we drivers did. They deserve a lot of praise.’ Mijatovic had already resigned himself to finishing as runner-up: ‘Our opponents were really unlucky in the last race and today. In my particular case, though, I have to say that luck hasn’t always been on my side either. Today was different, though, and I’m really proud.’
‘Nevertheless, we are very satisfied with the season,’ said Patrick Wagner, team manager of AVIA W&S Racing. ’With the Cup 3 classification in the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring and the championship in the ADAC GT4 Germany, we have achieved more than we had expected at the beginning of the year. Winning the championship in the NLS would have been the icing on the cake and we are disappointed. But next year we will have another go and try again.’
Toby Goodman won not only the championship title but also the NLS Junior Trophy. In his debut year, the 22-year-old Briton prevailed against W&S driver Daugaard. The counterpart – the Gentleman Trophy, which was held for the first time this year – was won by Michael Eichhorn, who drove the Cupra Leon from Auto Thomas by Jung Motorsport. Involved in the title fight for a long time, Daniel Mertens and Joshua Hislop consoled themselves by winning the production car trophy. The Hyundai i30N from Team Mertens Motorsport was the most successful car under the NLS’s own regulations for production-based racing touring cars. Desiree Müller secured the Ladies Trophy in the BMW 325i from Eifelkind Racing. Second place in the finale was not enough for Manthey-Racing to win the NLS Speed Trophy. Even though it did not start, the Porsche 911 GT3 R #4 from Falken Motorsports took the top car classification.
Thrilling fight for the last victory of the day
Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf celebrated their maiden victory in the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series at the season finale. Lucas Auer and Mikaël Grenier started from pole position and went on to win, leading the field for 20 laps. At the finish line, Grenier and Morris were 32.034 seconds ahead of Schuring, who shared the Manthey-Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R with Ayhancan Güven. However, it was still close at the beginning of the last stint. Not only was this the first victory for Landgraf, but Grenier and Auer were also standing at the top of the podium for the first time. Grenier also celebrated the first victory for a Canadian in the 48-year history of the championship. Marek Böckmann, Nico Bastian and Adam Christodoulou, who were driving the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from PROsport Racing, celebrated third place.
‘That was a very smooth race for us from qualifying to the chequered flag,’ said Grenier. ’My first stint was a bit tricky in traffic and I had some problems keeping the pace because I was driving cautiously. In the end, we had a perfect strategy, and that was the foundation for our victory today.’ Schuring was delighted with his debut podium finish: ‘I’m very satisfied with my first race with the legendary Porsche 911 GT3 R “Grello”. Towards the end, I had a bit of bad luck with a Code 60 period, during which I lost time, unlike Mikaël, because he was able to get through before the flags were shown. Otherwise, it might have been a close race again.’ Bastian was also pleased with his second consecutive podium finish: ‘It’s fantastic to end the season with third place. This is especially important for the team in view of the upcoming season. And the guys at PROSport have done a great job after the last few races were not quite optimal. This victory is also for the crew.’
The Up2Race celebrated a dream debut in the SP9. The team with which Timo Glock earned his Nordschleife permit fielded an Audi R8 LMS GT3 for the first time. Pierre Lemmerz, Philippe Charlaix and Michel Albers took victory in the Am class at the first attempt. The Pro-Am class victory went to Michael Heimrich, Arno Klasen and Sascha Steinhardt, who also drove an Audi R8 LMS GT3 for équipe vitesse.
The champions of the 2024 season will be crowned at the ‘Night of Champions’ at the Bitburger Event Center at the Nürburgring on 14 December. A week later, the Digital Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie will start into the 24/25 winter season with the first of four races.
