Next Saturday, 18 March, the Nürburgring Endurance Series will kick off the new season. The 68th ADAC Westfalenfahrt will run through the Green Hell over the usual distance of four hours. The fans can look forward to a lot of excitement as the season opener offers a few surprises. Tickets are available from 20 euros at vln.de/tickets. For those who are unable to be there live, the free livestream offers a comprehensive coverage. From 8:15 a.m., it will all be happening on vln.de, YouTube and Facebook.
It will be colourful again in the field of the unique Nordschleife Championship. 295 drivers from 31 nations with cars from 17 different manufacturers will take on the challenge of the Green Hell. Two cars stand out right away: Frikadelli Racing and WTM by Rinaldi Racing will make the European debut with the Ferrari 296 GT3. The new flagship from Maranello is not only an absolute eye-catcher but also has the potential for success. Felipe Fernández Laser and Klaus Abbelen will compete for Frikadelli, while Leonard Weiss, Jochen Krumbach and Daniel Keilwitz will take turns in the WTM Ferrari. Abt Sportsline is also reaching for the stars. With the Lamborghini Huracan GT3, the successful racing team from Kempten in the Allgäu region also relies on an Italian brand. Kelvin Van der Linde and Marco Mapelli will rotate in the cockpit. The car of Maximilian Hackländer who drives for Konrad Motorsport also has a bull on the bonnet.
The othe strong competitors, though, will rely on the tried and tested: Falken Motorsports, Dinamic GT, Rutronik Racing, Huber Motorsport and Manthey EMA will be competing with the new Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Haupt Racing Team, Schnitzelalm Racing and CP Racing will each bring a Mercedes-AMG GT3s to the grid. Walkenhorst Motorsport, ROWE RACING and the BMW Junior Team continue to rely on the BMW M4 GT3. Two Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II cars will be entered by Scherer Sport PHX and another one by Car Collection. Finally, two Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3s are entered by PROsport-Racing.
The SP10 is becoming a master class
The breakthrough in the GT4 class SP10 seems to have finally been made. A large number of production-based sports cars are homologated here and nine cars have been entered for the season opener. According to the NLS points system, full points are awarded to the winner in classes with seven or more starters. The team names in the SP10 are extremely interesting and promise exciting endurance racing. The Haupt Racing Team (Mercedes-AMG), Teichmann Racing and KCMG (both Toyota) are taking part for the first time. FK Performance Motorsport – the two-time NLS champion Michael Schrey celebrates his comeback in the Green Hell here alongside Thorsten Wolter and Nick Wüstenhagen in the BMW M4 GT4 – TOYO TIRES with Ring Racing (Toyota), PROsport-Racing (Aston Martin), Waldow Performance (Mercedes-AMG) and Walkenhorst Motorsport (BMW) complete the list of participants in the opening race.
The champions will race against each other in future
Last year they celebrated their success together, this year they will compete against each other on the race track: While Daniel Zils and Oskar Sandberg will continue to drive for Adrenalin Motorsport – now together with Philipp Leisen – Sindre Setsaas will in future race for FK Performance Motorsport together with Michael Schrey and Ranko Mijatovic. The VT2-R+4WD class (VLN production cars up to 2,000 cc with turbo and rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive) will once again be their field of action.
Hot action is also expected in the same class with front-wheel drive vehicles (VT2-FWD). This class will feature 15 vehicles. The spectrum of racing vehicles ranges from BMW 128ti, Hyundai i30N, MINI John Cooper Works, Opel Astra, Renault Megane RS, Volkswagen Scirocco to Volkswagen Golf. Other classes in which full championship points are awarded are BMW M240i Racing by Goodyear, CUP2 and CUP3.
Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring continues to boom
The latter are part of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring which runs for the second year in 2023. In 2022, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup made its debut in the CUP2. The popularity in the inaugural year was huge and is now continuing. 15 vehicles have been entered for the season opener. New are two cars from Max Kruse Racing, driven by Nico Otto, Benjamin Leuchter, Jan Jaap Van Roon and Andrew Engelmann. Among others, they will meet the current champion team AVIA W&S Motorsport with drivers Tim Scheerbarth and Paul Harkema. The other runners-up from last year will also attack again: KKrämer Racing with Karsten Krämer and Moritz Kranz as well as Mathol Racing with Arne Hoffmeister, Dorian Boccolacci, Reinhard Kofler and Hendrik Still. The same number of 15 cars is also entered in CUP3 which features Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS. The champion team Schmickler Performance powered by Ravenol is aiming to defend its title. With Adrenalin Motorsport, a vehicle of the five-time NLS champions is taking part for the first time.
Tickets for the opening race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series are available for 20 euros (children up to 14 years free of charge) at vln.de/tickets and at the box offices. This will get you into the open grandstands at the Grand Prix circuit, the exclusive spectator areas Brünnchen and Pflanzgarten as well as into the paddocks, the pit lane, on the starting grid and into the motorsport experience museum ring°werk.
