The Nürburgring Endurance Series got off to a flying start in the 12h Nürburgring. The premiere of the new season highlight went into the break on Saturday evening with the first race section scheduled for a six-hour race distance. In the interim results, Joel Eriksson, Jaxon Evans, Sven Müller and Alessio Picariello in the #3 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R are leading after half the distance. The quartet kept a cool head in changeable weather conditions and finished 59.932 seconds ahead of Björn Grossmann and Luca Ludwig in the #26 Ferrari 488 GT3 from octane 126. Kim Luis Schramm and Jakub "Kuba" Giermaziak were flagged off in third place on the first of two race days in the Eifel.

The Saturday of the 12h Nürburgring was not for the faint-hearted. On a wet track, qualifying already turned into a thriller. On the track, which dried out towards the end, Giermaziak set the best time in 8:19.189 minutes, closely followed by the Walkenhorst-BMW #34 with a gap of 1.530 seconds. The surprise followed in third place: Gabriele Piana put the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from Black Falcon on the third grid spot. Never before has a Cup 2 car qualified for a grid spot in the top three. In the course of the first half of the race, showers repeatedly added spice and challenged man and material alike.

Over the course of the six hours, the lead changed no less than seven times. The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from G-Tech Competition, the Ferrari 488 GT3 from octane 126, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 from Scherer Sport Team Phoenix and the currently leading Falken Porsche collected the lead kilometres.

"We are happy that Sven was flagged off in first place. But we'll settle the score tomorrow," says Felix Stiller, vehicle engineer of the #3 Falken Porsche. "We got the maximum out of it, brought the car home in one piece, always had the right tyres on and made the right decisions."

In addition to the action on the race track, the extensive supporting programme thrilled the fans at the Nürburgring: the legendary vehicle K.I.T.T. was just as popular a photo motif as the stars from Paw Patrol. In the paddock and on the track, the Falken-Drifters caused as much of a sensation as the Red Bull DJ-Mobile. The ring°boulevard was a popular meeting point and the fans were thrilled by the autograph session with all the participants during the pitwalk. There was also a good and exuberant atmosphere at the Nordschleife, where camping was possible for the first time at an NLS race.

Until the second half of the race on Sunday, the cars will remain in the Parc Fermé on the start-finish straight. The restart will take place tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the intervals in which the cars were waved off today.