Falken Motorsports remains the benchmark in the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. At the KW 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal race, Klaus Bachler and Sven Müller celebrated overall victory after 33 laps in the Porsche 911 GT3 R with start number 3, ahead of their teammates Dennis Marschall and Nico Menzel. At the finish line, the two Falken Porsches were separated by 5.127 seconds. The Haupt Racing Team achieved a first: Vincent Kolb, Frank Stippler, and Patrick Assenheimer drove their Ford Mustang GT3 to third place – the first podium finish for the new GT3 car on the Nordschleife. Fog around the Nürburgring and the Nordschleife meant the race had to be shortened: instead of six hours as planned, the race distance had to be reduced to 4.5 hours.
In Saturday morning’s qualifying session, which was also shortened to 40 minutes, it was Nico Menzel who set the pace with a lap time of 8:10.838 minutes. This put the Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with start number 4 on pole position and gave his team the best starting position. The BLACK FALCON Team EAE Porsche with Daan Arrow, Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Gabriele Piana, and Mike Stursberg completed the front row.
The final stages were particularly exciting. Bachler crossed the finish line again just seconds before the end of the race and added an extra lap – much to the delight of the numerous fans in the stands and around the Nordschleife. “We are here to race,” explained team boss Sven Schnabl. For Bachler himself, it was a perfect debut. His first Nordschleife outing this year ended with a victory. “Mega,” said the Austrian happily. “I haven’t been able to drive on the Nordschleife this year due to scheduling conflicts. That makes it all the more wonderful to be here today, to win and to celebrate a one-two victory. Sven did a mega job and put us in a position to be at the front.”
His teammates also drew a positive conclusion. “After the tough 24-hour race for the Falken team, this was a conciliatory race,” said Dennis Marschall. “We had no problems, the lap times looked good. Of course we want to win, but we’re satisfied for now.” Frank Stippler emphasized the significance of the Mustang podium: “The first podium finish for the Ford Mustang GT3 on the Nordschleife is a milestone – and we also racked up a few kilometers in the lead. The car is fast over one lap, but we still have work to do over the distance. We’ve already taken a few steps forward and will use the next races to continue working on development.”
In addition to the overall standings, the classes also provided exciting stories. In the highly competitive Cup 2 class of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring, car number 921 with Arne Hoffmeister, David Jahn, and Timi Scheerbarth came out on top. The trio finished sixth in the overall standings. David Jahn caused a particular stir when he was voted “Driver of the Race.” This was in recognition of his spectacular and fair overtaking maneuver against Carlos Rivas, who had been leading the class until then. Daniel Zils, on the other hand, saw his streak come to an end: after 58 consecutive class victories, he had to settle for two second places this time around as a double starter.
The most numerous class at the KW 6h ADAC Ruhr Cup race was the Cup2 category of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport with 17 starters. Victory went to the #962 car from W&S Motorsport with Joshua Bednarski and Lorenz Stegmann. Second place went to the #944 car with Leonard and Moritz Oehme from Düsseldorf. The podium was completed by Schmickler Performance powered by Ravenol with Horst Baumann, Stefan Schmickler, and Markus Schmickler. The large field provided thrilling duels throughout the entire race, once again making CUP3 one of the crowd favorites and the heart of grassroots motorsport in the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series.
After six of ten races, Sven Markert and Kevin Wambach lead the overall standings with 90 points. They are followed by Arne Hoffmeister and Tim Scheerbarth with 82 points. The points difference between the two duos remains unchanged, as both won their class. Falken Motorsports also extended its double lead in the NLS Speed Trophy with the double victory: Car number 3 is ahead of number 4 with 160 points to 122 points.
The next highlight for the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series is coming up in four weeks. On September 13 and 14, 2025, the NLS will hold a double-header for the first time this season. A four-hour race will be held on both days, marking rounds seven and eight of the season. Tickets are available online at vln.de/tickets.
