The season opener of the digital Nürburgring endurance series was a festival for every motorsport fan. In the RAVENOL 3-hour race, Alejandro Sánchez and Elias Seppänen in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of AMG Team Apex finished just 0.27 seconds ahead. Last year's champion Norbi Kiss and Felix Quirmbach of BS+COMPETITION had to settle for second place. In third place, Sami-Matti Trogen and Vasilios Beletsiotis of AMG Team Williams completed a perfect triple victory for Mercedes-AMG. Apex Racing had two reasons to celebrate, as victory in the SP10 class also went to the virtual racing team from Great Britain. In the Cup 2 and SP3 classes, drivers from SCHERER eSPORT were at the top of the podium.

In qualifying, Alexey Nesov secured pole position in the Porsche 911 GT3 R of Pole Promotion Esports, managed by René Rast. However, because he did not maintain the specified speed in the last few meters before the start, race control imposed a penalty.

The two AMG teams took the lead and fought a thrilling duel for victory over long stretches of the race. “In the end, we had a little more pace in some sections,” said Sánchez. “We were able to take advantage of that and ultimately take the victory.” Reigning ADAC GT Masters champion Seppänen, who completed the first stint as a real driver, added: “I got off to a good start and benefited when the Porsche received the penalty. We managed to save fuel in the early stages, so we didn't have to make an additional stop at the end. In the end, it got really tight, but Alejandro had it well under control. That was a perfect race.”

After 24 laps, pole-sitter Nesov was flagged down in fifth place together with Constantin Tscharf behind the best-placed BMW M4 GT3 of the MAHLE RACING TEAM. Sixth place went to the Ferrari 296 GT3 from Impulse Racing by GTÜ. The two Ford Mustang GT3s from M&J Downforce took seventh and eighth places.

The Cup 2 class of the Porsche Esports Endurance Trophy Nürburgring was also hotly contested. In the Manthey one-make cup, the two Porsches of SCHERER eSPORT were the measure of all things, as they were last year. Raphael Rennhofer and William Chadwick took first place ahead of last year's champions Luca Alpert and Julian Reimer. Luca Kita and Luis Beilicke rounded off the good team result for Apex Racing in third place. “After just missing out on the title last season, winning the opener today was a dream start to the new season,” said Rennhofer. “The field is extremely strong again this year. It was very difficult to hold our own, especially in the first stint, because you can't get a gap with the slipstream.” Chadwick analyzed the secret of their success: “We managed to handle the tires and fuel the best.” The maximum points in the newly created PEETN Am drivers' standings went to Michael Lerchbacher and Christopher Wolfgruber, who drove the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to tenth place in the class for Austrian Simracers.

The decision in the GT4 class SP10 was only made in the last few meters. On the penultimate lap, Aaron Wazquezz and Maxence Godinho took the lead. In the final lap, they managed to open up a small gap that their pursuers could no longer close. DNLS champions from Season 5, Corentin Guinez and Marvin Strehl, took second place in the Mercedes-AMG GT4 from SimRC, ahead of Lucas U. Müller and Benedikt Hitz in the BMW M4 GT4 from Falken Simracing. “A fantastic start,” said Wazquezz. “We had a good qualifying and were very happy with our race pace. We also managed to stay out of trouble. So, despite a small problem at the last pit stop, we were able to secure first place in the end.”

The maiden victory of the Renault Clio in the SP3 went to Sven Winter and Michael Teisch of SCHERER eSPORT. The duo beat Leon Harhoff and Lean Weigel of smillaesports x Entropy and Christopher Limprecht and Merlin Marc Wolf of Wollf Motorsport Simracing. “That was mega fun today,” said Teisch. ‘We had a bit of bad luck because we took a hit on the first lap and our steering wheel has been crooked ever since. Fortunately, this didn't affect the pace.’ The big challenge in the smallest DNLS class – as in multiclass racing in real NLS – is to read traffic as best as possible while still concentrating on your race. Teisch explains: “It's always exciting when a D-train of Cup Porsches or something like that flies past you. You have to drive carefully, but not too much, so that the lapping driver can still see what you're doing. That's not that easy with the Clio, because on the Nordschleife you have an extremely high proportion of full throttle and especially in direct duels in the class you can never let the slipstream tear away.

The second race of the Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series is scheduled for February 1, 2025.