NLS3 on Saturday saw a 29 lap thriller ending with Ayhancan Güven and Thomas Preiningtaking the 58th victory for Manthey EMA in the Porsche 911 GT3 R.
At the finish, their lead over Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller, and Luca Stolz in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed was 11.163 seconds. After two consecutive victories, Falken Motorsports’ winning streak ended at the 56th Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy. Sven Müller and Morris Schuring piloted their 911 to third place.
Starting from pole position, Manthey driver Güven dominated the first four laps. On lap five, he was passed by Ricardo Feller in the Scherer Sport PHX Porsche 911 GT3 R, before storming back to the front just a few kilometers later.
The Scherer 911 was in the leading group for much of the race, but had to pit for refueling with one lap to go and fell back to sixth place overall. The sister car, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 of Christopher Haase and Luca Ludwig, was also involved in the fight for the podium places, but dropped back from second place shortly before the final stint. Ludwig slowly driving the R8 into the pits to prevent more serious damage when a puncture intervened. David Perel, Axcil Jefferies, and Thomas Neubauer also logged their first kilometres in the lead at the third NLS race of the season in the Ferrari 296 GT3 fielded by REALIZE KONDO RACING with Rinaldi. However, after the first stint, the alternator failed, forcing the car into retirement. GetSpeed led the race no fewer than seven times with their AMG GT3. The team based on the industrial park at the Nürburgring also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 7:52.588 minutes.
“We had to wait more than a year for this victory, which was quite a long time,” said Preining after the race. “We’re super happy that it went so well. We still have a few small details to work on, and with the DTM races in between, it certainly won’t be boring.”
Stolz was also satisfied: “That was a really good race, and I had a lot of fun on the Nordschleife in this great weather. Manthey narrowly beat us in the end. Next time, we hope to move up a notch on the podium. We won’t rest on our laurels.”
Following the race, Schuring was named ‘Driver of the Race’ by representatives of the race management, the ILN Drivers’ Association, and the NLS moderators for causing a stir with exceptionally intelligent yet spectacular overtaking maneuvers despite his young age.
“I’m happy to accept this award – it’s a great honor for me, especially considering the experienced professionals I was up against in the race.” The Dutchman commented on the race: “Even though we didn’t win today, we can be very satisfied. The competition was very strong today. We will now analyze everything carefully and aim to take the next step in two weeks’ time at the qualifiers.”
The second Falken Porsche finished fourth after four hours, ahead of the best-placed Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo from Walkenhorst Motorsport. Ben and Phil Dörr won the Pro-Am classification in SP9 with the McLaren 720s GT3 Evo. Arno Klasen, Eric Ullström, and Michael Heimrich were the fastest Am drivers in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 of the équipe vitesse.
Cup 2 victory and championship lead for Mühlner Motorsport
With their third victory in Cup 2 of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring, Tim Scheerbarth and Arne Hoffmeister also took the lead in the NLS. Together with David Jahn, the trio in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, branded by H&R Spezialfedern, relegated Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, and Carlos Rivas of LOSCH Motorsport by Black Falcon to second place.
Victory in Cup 3 went to Joshua Bednarski, Kai Riemer, and Lorenz Stegmann, driving the W&S Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS.
Following an accident in qualifying that could not be repaired before the race, Heiko Eichenberg and Harley Haughton of SRS Team Sorg Rennsport, who were tied for first place in the championship after two races, recorded their first discarded result.
Similar misfortune befell Daniel Zils, Philipp Stahlschmidt, and Philipp Leisen. Following a puncture on the BMW 330i of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels, the team discovered consequential damage in the pits and retired from the race early. Zils, Stahlschmidt, and Leisen also traveled to race three as championship leaders.
The winners in the VT2-RWD were Jan-Piet Ooms, Calvin de Groot, and Marius Rauer in the BMW 330i of SRS Team Sorg Rennsport. De Groot thus took the lead in the NLS Junior Trophy.
The closest finish of the race was in the V6 class. Klaus Faßbender, Christian Büllesbach, Andreas Schettler, and Daniel Zils in the Porsche Cayman S of Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels had a lead of just 1.736 seconds over Christian and Thomas Heuchemer in the Porsche 911 of Schmickler Performance powered by Ravenol.
