Exactly 100 years after the foundation stone for the unique Eifel circuit was laid, Max Verstappen and Chris Lulham made history at the Nürburgring. The four-time and reigning Formula 1 World Champion, together with his friend and teammate, won the ninth race of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. In the Ferrari 296 GT3 of EMIL FREY RACING, the duo of Dennis Fetzer, Jann Mardenborough, and Fabio Scherer relegated the Haupt Racing Team’s Ford Mustang GT3 to second place by 24.496 seconds. In the sister car, Vincent Kolb and Frank Stippler took third place after four hours. For Verstappen, the victory at the 57th ADAC Barbarossapreis organized by the MSC Sinzig was his first GT3 race, his first outing in a multi-class field, and his first victory outside of Formula 1 since joining the premier class – at least in real motorsport. In the Digital NLS, Verstappen had already claimed two victories in Season 5.
Verstappen was defeated in qualifying. Christian Krognes, who currently holds the lap record on the NLS version of the short circuit and the Nordschleife, secured pole position on a drying track in his Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with a time of 8:06.057 minutes. Second place went to double starter Stippler, who missed the fastest time by 2.119 seconds in his JUTA RACING Audi R8 LMS GT3. Verstappen led the standings at times during qualifying, but ultimately the Dutchman was 3.069 seconds behind. Nevertheless, the spectator interest surrounding the thoroughbred racer was huge. Numerous fans watched the Formula 1 star’s performance in the paddock and on the starting grid.
At the start of the race, Verstappen took the lead in turn one and extended his advantage to around a minute over Stippler during his double stint. Lulham took over the Ferrari for the final two stints and delivered a strong performance in direct competition with Kolb and the second Mustang crew. “It feels great to win here in my first race,” said Verstappen. “My goal is to compete in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring at some point. So hopefully, we’ll do more NLS races next year.” Lulham was also overwhelmed: “Unbelievable, I still can’t believe it. The car was fantastic, but driving with so much traffic on the track was anything but easy.”
The losing drivers all admitted that it wasn’t a problem for them to have lost out to the four-time world champion in the end. “Standing on the podium with someone like Max Verstappen is fantastic. That was amazing. I rarely get nervous, but today I was a bit nervous,” said Fetzer. Mardenborough was also thrilled with the Ferrari duo’s performance: “It was extremely cool to race together with Max and Chris.” Stippler was particularly pleased with the recent podium finishes: “Our goal was to end the season in a better position than we were in March, and we’re well on our way to achieving that. Finishing on the podium behind the best driver in the world is perfectly fine. I fully expected Max and Chris to win.”
Speaking of best driver: For his outstanding performance in his GT3 debut, Verstappen was named ‘Driver of the Race’ after the race by representatives of the race management, the Drivers’ Association of the ILN (Interest Group Long Distance Nürburgring) and the race commentators.
Behind the top three, the next big surprise followed. Dominik and Marcel Fugel, along with Benny Leuchter, drove the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to fourth place. The vehicle runs on the E20 Gasoline biofuel developed by Volkswagen, which is 60% renewable. A fantastic debut for the first sustainable GT3 car in the Green Hell.
Pole-sitter Krognes, along with Mateo Villagomez and Anders Buchardt, drove for Walkenhorst Motorsport to victory in the SP9 Pro-Am classification. The SP9 Am crown went to Kiki Sak Nana, Christoph Breuer, and Dieter Schidtmann, who drove the Renazzo Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo II. Thai drift champion Sak Nana expressed his great passion for the Green Hell in an interview: “I drove here in the NLS from 2013 to 2016. After that, I drove on other racetracks, in Asia and Europe. But I always thought about the Nordschleife. I’m at the Red Bull Ring or in Barcelona—why do I always think about the Green Hell? Then various people said to me: If that’s what you want, just do it again. Now I’m back here and I’m just very happy. Thanks to the team, because our Lambo is getting easier and easier to drive.”
Former Formula 1 driver wins the TCR class
A former Formula 1 driver was successful in the TCR class. Tiago Monteiro shared the cockpit of the ALM Motorsport Honda Civic TCR FL5 from Estonia with Mike Halder, the current leader in the Spanish TCR. After 26 laps, the duo prevailed by 2:35.083 minutes over Kenneth Østvold and Anders Lindstad in the Audi RS3 LMS fielded by Møller Bil Motorsport from Norway. Artur Goroyan, Roman Mavlanov (both Armenia), Oleg Kvitka (Kyrgyzstan), and VLN champion Danny Brink finished third in another Audi fielded by Goroyan RT by sharky-racing.
Table leaders virtually uncatchable
With their ninth win in the ninth race, Nick Wüstenhagen and Ranko Mijatovic have laid an important foundation for the title win. The duo in the FK Performance Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 holds an unassailable lead in the standings and is virtually uncatchable. At the season finale, the pair will be crowned the new champions, replacing Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels at the top of the championship for the first time in seven years.
NLS Youth Kart Championship Decided
The first season of the NLS Youth Kart Championship, established this year, was a complete success. The winners of the five racing classes were Jonas Bohrer (MSC Adenau), Mick Schmidt (OC Lahnstein), David Böttcher (MSC Konz), Florian Rauhe (MSC Adenau), and Luis Müller Herfarth (PSV Wengerohr). “It was a great pleasure for me personally to integrate the young talent into our platform in this way,” said VLN Managing Director Mike Jäger, who personally presented the trophies at the awards ceremony. “I hope we can further expand the youth kart slalom next year.”
For those who don’t want to miss the grand finale of an unforgettable endurance racing season: Tickets for the finale of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie are available in advance from €25 at vln.de/tickets. Children up to 14 years of age are admitted free.
