The new champions of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie are Sven Markert, Ranko Mijatovic and Toby Goodman. In the BMW M240i Racing of the Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels, the trio took their sixth class victory in the eighth race and crowned their season with the title in the most popular national racing series in 2024. The last victory of the year went to Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf in the 56th ADAC Barbarossapreis. Lucas Auer and Mikaël Grenier prevailed in a thrilling finish against Morris Schuring and Ayhancan Güven in the Manthey-Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
For much of the 2024 season, team principal Matthias Unger had not believed that he would celebrate a seventh consecutive title. In the end, Markert, Mijatovic and Goodman achieved the seemingly impossible. The trio had already had a crash barrier contact during Friday's test due to ABS problems on the Cup BMW. The mechanics did everything they could to get the car ready for the race. They succeeded, but there was another slight impact in training. The adrenaline team also overcame this hurdle with flying colors. In the race, there was only one chance for Markert, Mijatovic and Goodman. They needed to win their class to overtake Joshua Bednarski, Lucas Daugaard and Moritz Oberheim in the AVIA W&S Motorsport Porsche Cayman at the top of the table. But even with the victory in the bag, Adrenalin would have been left empty-handed if W&S had clinched a class win. After 15 laps, the Cayman retired with a technical defect. Markert, Mijatovic and Goodman, meanwhile, drove to a commanding class victory and were able to celebrate at the end.
“After our retirement at NLS3, we had almost written off the championship,” said Goodman. ‘The fact that we are still at the top now shows that you can never give up and always have to keep fighting, even when the situation seems impossible.’ Markert added: ”We would never have won this title without the strong performance of Adrenalin Motorsport. The guys fought harder today than we drivers did. They deserve great praise.” Mijatovic had also resigned himself to finishing as runner-up: ”Our opponents were really unlucky in the last race and today. In my particular case, though, I have to say that luck hasn't always been on my side either. Today was different and I'm really proud.”
“Nevertheless, we are very satisfied with the season,” said Patrick Wagner, team manager of AVIA W&S Racing. ”With the Cup 3 classification in the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring and the championship in the ADAC GT4 Germany, we have achieved more than we had expected at the beginning of the year. Winning the championship in the NLS would have been the icing on the cake and we are disappointed. But next year we will give it another go.”
Toby Goodman won the NLS Junior Trophy in addition to the championship title. In his debut year, the 22-year-old Briton beat W&S driver Daugaard. Michael Eichhorn, who drove the Cupra Leon from Auto Thomas by Jung Motorsport, won the counterpart – the Gentleman Trophy, which was held for the first time this year. Involved in the title fight for a long time, Daniel Mertens and Joshua Hislop consoled themselves by winning the production car trophy. The Hyundai i30N from Team Mertens Motorsport was the most successful car under the NLS's own regulations for production-based racing touring cars. Desiree Müller secured the Ladies Trophy in the BMW 325i from Eifelkind Racing. Second place in the finale was not enough for Manthey Racing to win the NLS Speed Trophy. Even though it did not start, the Porsche 911 GT3 R #4 from Falken Motorsports took the top car classification.
Exciting fight for the last victory of the day
Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf celebrated its maiden victory in the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series at the season finale. Lucas Auer and Mikaël Grenier started from pole position to take the victory. The Mercedes-AMG duo led the field for 20 laps. Grenier and Morris Schuring, who shared the Porsche 911 GT3 R from Manthey-Racing with Ayhancan Güven, were separated by 32.034 seconds at the finish line. However, it was still close at the beginning of the last stint. Not only was this the first victory for Landgraf, but Grenier and Auer were also standing at the top of the podium for the first time. Grenier also celebrated the first victory for a Canadian in the 48-year history of the championship. Marek Böckmann, Nico Bastian and Adam Christodoulou, who were driving the PROsport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, celebrated third place.
“That was a very smooth race for us from qualifying to the chequered flag,” said Grenier. ”My first stint was a bit tricky in traffic and I had some problems keeping the pace because I was driving cautiously. In the end, we had a perfect strategy, which was the foundation for our victory today.” Schuring was pleased with the podium finish on his debut: ‘I'm very satisfied with my first race with the legendary Porsche 911 GT3 R ’Grello'. In the end, I had some bad luck with a Code 60 phase, in which, unlike Mikaël, I lost time because he was still able to pass through before the flags were shown. Otherwise, it might have been exciting again.” Bastian was also pleased with the second podium finish in a row: ”It's fantastic to end the season in third place. Especially for the team, this is very important with a view to the coming season. And the guys from PROSport have done a great job after the last few races were not quite optimal. The victory also goes to the crew.”
The Up2Race celebrated a dream debut in the SP9. The team with which Timo Glock earned his Nordschleife permit fielded an Audi R8 LMS GT3 for the first time. Pierre Lemmerz, Philippe Charlaix and Michel Albers took victory in the Am class at the first attempt. The Pro-Am class went to Michael Heimrich, Arno Klasen and Sascha Steinhardt, who also drove an Audi R8 LMS GT3 for équipe vitesse.
The champions of the 2024 season will be crowned on December 14 at the Bitburger Event Center at the Nürburgring during the big 'Night of Champions'. A week later, the Digital Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie will start the winter season 24/25 with the first of four races.