The ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr Cup Race on 8 July will be the first highlight of the 2023 Nürburgring Endurance Series season. Over the XXL distance - 50 per cent more than the regular NLS races - the cards are reshuffled. There are more points for the winners in the individual classes, so there could be movement in the championship. Tickets for the race under the name patronage of NLS sponsor ROWE are available here starting at 20 euros, children up to 14 years of age have free entry. A popular selfie motif will be the 'Racebot' in the pit lane and the starting grid. The musical setting will be provided by Red Bull's spectacular DJ mobile, which will create a party atmosphere between practice and the race at the end of the pit lane and later in the Brünnchen. Those who cannot be there will have the opportunity to follow the action in the Green Hell from 8.15 a.m. onwards via livestream.
Reinforcement for last year's winners: Falken Motorsports has signed David Pittard, one of the winning Frikadelli drivers of the 24h race at the Nürburgring. Before that, the Briton already caused a stir in the Green Hell in the Walkenhorst-BMW and took two victories. Together with Joel Eriksson, Pittard pilots the number 3 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Dennis Fetzer and Martin Ragginger take turns in the sister car. The goal is clearly defined. After the team around NLS partner Falken already excelled over the longer distances last year, the aim is to achieve success again this time.
However, there are some teams who want to challenge the Falken for this success, first and foremost the Walkenhorst team. Jakub 'Kuba' Giermaziak and Christian Krognes took the second victory for the team from Melle in the BMW M4 GT3 at NLS4 and are also favourites for the 6h race. The same applies to team-mates Thomas Neubauer, Niklas Krütten and Dylan Pereira in the sister car. After finishing third at the last round, Maxime Dumarey and Mike David Ortmann also got a taste of success in the PROsport-Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Schnitzelalm Racing already celebrated a podium finish at the opening race. In NLS5, Patrick Assenheimer, Marcel Marchewicz and Tim Neuser will start the race in the Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Drift guru Kiki Sak Nana celebrates a comeback in the NLS. The Thai shares the cockpit of the Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup MR from mcchip-dkr with 'Dieter Schmidtmann' and Chistoph Breuer. Kiki already competed in the team's BMW M240i Racing Cup at the 24h race. In the NLS, he already took two class victories in 2016 in the then Porsche Cup class. The 6h race will also see a reunion with the Girls-Only team. In the BMW M4 GT4 of GITI TIRE MOTORSPORT BY WS RACING, Fabienne Wohlwend, Célia Martin and Beitske Visser will take turns.
The 6h race brings more points
In the championship, first place is firmly in the hands of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Motec. With four wins from four races, the trio of Daniel Zils, Oskar Sandberg and Philipp Leisen in the BMW 330i and Yannick Fübrich, Sven Markert and Nils Steinberg in the BMW M240i Racing Cup lead the championship with 60 points. Eight points behind is Heiko Eichenberg, who is competing for SRS Team Sorg Rennsport in a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS in CUP3. Third place is shared by Marcus Willhardt, Michael Bohrer and Gerrit Holthaus, who start in the Hyundai i30N Fastback in V2T-FWD, as well as Daniel Mertens, Christian Dannesberger and Norbert Fischer. The trio will start in the same class with a Hyundai i30N under the entry Zierau Hochvolt by Mertens Motorsport. However, both teams currently have a respectable gap to the top with 45 points.
A top result at the ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal race is literally worth its weight in gold, because the longer distance also means more points for victory - 19 instead of 15. And even if the positions seem to be taken at the moment, NLS5 just marks the mountain festival in the 2023 season. Five races are still on the programme. And at the end of the year, two strike results will be applied, so there can still be a lot of movement in the drivers' standings.
In the medienkraftwerk Junior Trophy, Adrenalin driver Nils Steinberg (BMW M240i Racing Cup) leads the standings. Anton Ruf from Smyrlis Racing (BMW M240i Racing Cup), Nico Otto from Max Kruse Racing (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) and last year's champion Sindre Setsaas, who is driving a BMW 330i from FK Performance Motorsport this season, are in the chasing positions.
In the NLS Speed Trophy, Walkenhorst Motorsport (BMW M4 GT3, #34) made up a lot of points with its second win at NLS4 and is now second behind the BMW Junior Team, which claimed a win and other top positions in the first third of the season. Leisen / Sandberg / Zils hold the lead in the production car trophy.
Adrenalin Motorsport Team Motec leads four classes in the NIMEX Team Trophy (BMW M240i, V5, V6 and VT2-R+4WD). Other leaders are Zierau Hochvolt by Mertens Motorsport (VT2-FWD), Team Mathol Racing e.V. (VT3), Car Competition Racing Team (SP3), 9and11 Racing (SP7), équipe vitesse (SP9 Am), CP Racing (SP9 Pro-Am), BMW Junior Team (SP9), FK Performance Motorsport (SP10), Schmickler Performance powered by Ravenol (SP3T), HYRacing-AMC Sankt Vith (SP4T), Four Motors Bioconcept-Car (AT(-G)) and asBest RACING (TCR).
Tickets for the fifth race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series are available here for 20 Euros (children up to 14 years free of charge) 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 the paddock, the pit lane, the starting grid and the motorsport experience museum ring°werk.