Next Saturday, 18 March, the Nürburgring Endurance Series starts the new season. The 68th ADAC Westfalenfahrt will run over the usual distance of four hours through the Green Hell. The fans can expect a lot of excitement, because the season opener has a few surprises in store. For those who can't be there live, the free livestream offers comprehensive coverage. From 8:15 a.m., it's all happening on vln.de, YouTube and Facebook.
The field of the unique Nordschleife Championship will be colourful again. 295 drivers from 31 nations will face the challenge of the Green Hell with cars from 17 different manufacturers. Two cars stand out right away: Frikadelli Racing and WTM by Rinaldi Racing contest the European premiere of 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. The successful racing team from Kempten in the Allgäu region also relies on an Italian brand with the Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Kelvin Van der Linde and Marco Mapelli take turns at the wheel. Maximilian Hackländer also has a bull on the bonnet for Konrad Motorsport.
The strong competition, on the other hand, is relying on the tried and tested: Falken Motorsports, Dinamic GT, Rutronik Racing, Huber Motorsport and Manthey EMA will be fielding the new Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Haupt Racing Team, Schnitzelalm Racing and CP Racing are in the running with Mercedes-AMG GT3s. 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 by Car Collection. Finally, two Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3s are entered by PROsport-Racing.
SP10 advances to master class
The knot in the GT4 class SP10 seems to have finally been broken. A large number of near-series sports cars are homologated here and nine cars have been named for the season opener. According to the NLS points formula, full points are awarded to the winner if there are seven or more starters in the class. The team names in the SP10 make one sit up and take notice 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 - here, two-time NLS champion Michael Schrey celebrates his comeback in the Green Hell 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 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 meet on the race track in a sporting competition: While Daniel Zils and Oskar Sandberg will continue to take the wheel for Adrenalin Motorsport - now together with Philipp Leisen - Sindre Setsaas will compete for FK Performance Motorsport together with Michael Schrey and Ranko Mijatovic. Once again, the VT2-R+4WD class (VLN production cars up to 2,000 cc with turbo and rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive) will be the venue.
The same class with front-wheel drive vehicles (VT2-FWD) will also be a hot one. There are 15 vehicles in this class. 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 offering full championship points include 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 enters its second year in 2023. In 2022, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup made its debut in the CUP2. The interest 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 reigning champion team AVIA W&S Motorsport with 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. There are also 15 cars entered in CUP3, which features Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS. The champion team Schmickler Performance powered by Ravenol is aiming to defend its title. For the first time, Adrenalin Motorsport is entering a car from the five-time NLS champions.
Tickets for the opening race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series are available for 20 euros (children up to 14 years free of charge). This will get you into the open grandstands at the Grand Prix circuit, into the exclusive spectator areas Brünnchen and Pflanzgarten as well as into the paddock, the pit lane, the starting grid and into the motorsport experience museum ring°werk.