The third round of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie was a celebration for every motorsport fan: four hours of gripping racing action featuring countless, sometimes spectacular overtaking maneuvers and beaming winners. After 29 grueling laps in the Green Hell, Ayhancan Güven and Thomas Preining claimed the 58th victory for Manthey EMA in their Porsche 911 GT3 R. At the finish line, their lead over Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller, and Luca Stolz in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed was 11.163 seconds. After two consecutive wins, Falken Motorsports' streak came to an end at the 56th Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy. Sven Müller and Morris Schuring drove their Porsche to third place.

Starting from pole position, Manthey driver Güven dominated the first four laps. On lap five, he was briefly overtaken by Ricardo Feller in the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Scherer Sport PHX, only to reclaim the lead a few kilometers later. The Scherer Porsche remained among the front-runners for much of the race but had to pit for a splash of fuel just one lap before the end, dropping to sixth overall. The sister car, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 driven by Christopher Haase and Luca Ludwig, was also in the fight for the podium but fell back from second place shortly before the final stint. With a tire issue looming, Ludwig brought the R8 back to the pits at reduced speed to prevent further damage. David Perel, Axcil Jefferies, and Thomas Neubauer also led their first laps of the season in the Ferrari 296 GT3 of REALIZE KONDO RACING with Rinaldi, but a faulty alternator after the first stint forced their early retirement. GetSpeed clocked seven laps in the lead and also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 7:52.588.

“We had to wait more than a year for this win – it felt really long,” said Preining after the race. “We’re super happy that things went so well. We still need to fine-tune a few things, and with the DTM races in between, it certainly won’t be boring.” Stolz was also pleased: “That was a really good race, and I had a lot of fun on the Nordschleife in this great weather. Manthey just beat us at the end. Next time, we hope to move up one step on the podium. We won’t rest on our laurels.” After the race, Schuring was named Driver of the Race by the race directors, the ILN drivers’ committee, and NLS commentators for his exceptionally smart yet spectacular overtaking maneuvers despite his young age. “I gladly accept this honor – it means a lot to me, especially considering the experienced pros I raced against today.” The Dutchman added: “Even though we didn’t win today, we can be very satisfied. The competition was really strong. We’ll analyze everything closely and aim to take the next step at the Qualifiers in two weeks.”

The second Falken Porsche finished fourth after four hours, ahead of the top-finishing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo from Walkenhorst Motorsport. Ben and Phil Dörr won the Pro-Am class in the SP9 category with their McLaren 720s GT3 Evo. Arno Klasen, Eric Ullström, and Michael Heimrich were the fastest Am drivers in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 of équipe vitesse.

Cup 2 Victory and Championship Lead for Mühlner Motorsport
With their third win in the Cup 2 class of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring, Tim Scheerbarth and Arne Hoffmeister also took the overall lead in the NLS standings. Together with David Jahn, the trio in the H&R Spezialfedern-liveried Porsche 911 GT3 Cup beat Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, and Carlos Rivas of LOSCH Motorsport by Black Falcon to second place. The Cup 3 victory went to Joshua Bednarski, Kai Riemer, and Lorenz Stegmann in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS from W&S Motorsport. Following a crash in qualifying that couldn’t be repaired before the race, Heiko Eichenberg and Harley Haughton of SRS Team Sorg Rennsport—who had been tied for the championship lead after two rounds—registered their first dropped result. Similar misfortune struck Daniel Zils, Philipp Stahlschmidt, and Philipp Leisen. After a tire failure on their BMW 330i from Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels, the team found additional damage in the pits and retired early. Zils / Stahlschmidt / Leisen also arrived at round three as points leaders. Benefiting in the VT2-RWD class were Jan-Piet Ooms, Calvin de Groot, and Marius Rauer in the BMW 330i from SRS Team Sorg Rennsport. De Groot thus took the lead in the NLS Junior Trophy.

Tightest Finish in Class V6
The closest finish of the race occurred in the V6 class. Klaus Faßbender, Christian Büllesbach, Andreas Schettler, and Daniel Zils in the Porsche Cayman S of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels crossed the line just 1.736 seconds ahead of Christian and Thomas Heuchemer in the Porsche 911 from Schmickler Performance powered by Ravenol.

Exciting Action for the NLS Kart Kids Too
There were beaming faces among the young talents at the third round of the NLS Youth Kart Slalom Championship – not only when Nürburgring mascot "Legend" and Stitch from "Lilo & Stitch" made an appearance at midday. Victories and trophies also brought joy to the top-performing kids – such as Jonas Bohrer from MSC Adenau, who took his third win of the season in K1. One class up, Mick Schmidt from OC Lahnstein took victory. In the highly competitive K3 class with 14 participants, David Bötcher from MSC Konz came out on top, while local favorite Florian Rauhe celebrated his third consecutive win in K4. In K5, Luis Müller-Herrfarth of the PSV Wengerohr MSA prevailed. The junior championship now heads into a well-deserved summer break. The fourth of five rounds is scheduled for August 16 as part of the NLS.

Double-Header Ahead for the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie
In just two weeks, the next two championship rounds of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie are on the schedule. Since last year, the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers count towards the series. The ADAC Nordrhein will host a double-header on May 24 and 25, with two four-hour races on tap.