The weather also played a major role in Sunday’s ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers race. On a wet track at the start of the race and with a heavy shower in the final lap, Patrick Niederhauser and Laurens Vanthoor once again kept their nerve and won again in the Scherer Sport PHX Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Falken Motorsports and Manthey EMA 911s took second and third place, completing a triple victory for the sports car manufacturer from Zuffenhausen. Away from the overall standings, drama surrounding the Mühlner Porsche in the closing stages led to a change at the top of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie standings. After five races, drivers from Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels and FK Performance Motorsport are now in the lead.
In wet qualifying, Kévin Estre drove the fastest lap in the Manthey Porsche with a time of 9:11.724 minutes. Due to repairs to a wheel carrier that took just a few seconds too long, ‘Grello’ was unable to take part in top qualifying. Fabian Schiller took pole position in the individual time trial in the GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a time of 9:12.919 minutes.
The start of the race: a tire gamble. With the track drying out, choosing the right tires was crucial. The drivers who had opted for slicks initially lost time in the first few laps. Those who played it safe were forced to switch to slick tires after a few laps. The two Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed cars, the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Red Bull Team ABT, the Falken Porsche with the #33 and finally the winners of the fourth NLS race, Vanthoor and Niederhauser, collected the leading laps. As the race progressed, lap times continued to fall. The fastest lap was set by the Scherer duo. Their best time of 8:15.925 minutes was more than three seconds faster than the competition.
“What more could you want than a double victory at the weekend? They were two very difficult races. We were just happy to come through unscathed,” admitted Niederhauser. “It’s fantastic that we were able to repeat yesterday’s performance.” Vanthoor added: “It was a perfect weekend. The car was very good. The last lap was exciting again. But everything worked out great.” Picariello also had to contend with the challenging conditions around the Nordschleife: “After the first two laps, I never would have expected us to make it onto the podium. We had to make a pit stop very early, which is not normally an ideal strategy. But we had good pace in the dry and didn’t make any mistakes. A very good result for the team.“ Estre was not entirely happy with third place: ”Of course, I wanted the win. We had a good race. The others were just a bit faster and had a different strategy. It wasn’t easy to know where you stood.”
Behind the leading trio, pole-sitter Schiller finished fourth alongside Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz. Daniel Juncadella drove the Abt Lamborghini, which he shared with Marco Mapelli and Christian Engelhart, to fifth place. The second GetSpeed Mercedes with Ralf Aron, Adam Christodoulou, and Mikaël Grenier finished sixth.
Change at the top of the table
After the introductory lap, table leader Tim Scheerbarth headed for the pits to have slick tires fitted at the Mühlner pit. Together with Arne Hoffmeister and David Jahn, he fought his way back to the top of the Cup 2 class in the first half of the race. With victory in sight, drama struck shortly before the end of the race: a lapping GT3 car hit Hoffmeister at the rear, dashing his dreams of victory. The teams that had been in second place up to that point didn’t miss a beat in Sunday’s Qualifiers race and won their classes. Sven Markert and Kevin Wambach took their fourth victory of the season in the BMW M240i Racing of the Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels, as did Nick Wüstenhagen, Ranko Mijatovic, and Tobias Wahl in the BMW M4 GT4 of FK Performance Motorsport. This puts both teams tied for first place in the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series standings.
AT teams celebrate double victories
Successful class debut for the “Girls Only – Ready to rock the Green Hell” team. Patricija Stalidzane, Janina Schall, Fabienne Wohlwend, and Beitske Visser competed in the AT3 class for the first time with their BMW M4 GT4. On both days, the women’s team from GITI Tire Motorsport by WS Racing drove to victory in the AT3 class with a synthetic gasoline fuel from the eFuels class. Björn and Georg Griesemann achieved the same feat together with Yves Volte and, on Saturday, supported by Dirk Adorf in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS M from Manthey Team eFuel Griesemann. The team triumphed twice in the AT2 class.
After the 24-hour race, amateur racing takes center stage
Preparations for the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring (June 19-22) are now complete. A large number of NLS teams will be competing in the endurance classic in the Eifel region. The ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series continues on July 5 with the premiere of NLS Light. For once, the focus will not be on the usual frontrunners, but on grassroots motorsport. GT3 cars and Cup 2 Porsches are not permitted in this event, which is not part of the championship standings.
