Falken Motorsports dominated this afternoon’s Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie race, whilst mechanical issues disrupted Max Verstappen’s attempt to secure his DPN Permit A.
Falken’s #3 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Julien Andlauer and Joel Sturm claimed victory in the four-hour ADAC ACAS Cup, ahead of the sister #4 Porsche of Tim Heinemann and Benjamin Leuchter.
In qualifying, Andlauer secured Falken Motorsports’ first pole position of the season on his final flying lap of the session. The Porsche factory driver set a 9:13.786 on a drying circuit, comfortably beating Tobias Müller’s 9:18.417 in the #48 BLACK FALCON Team EAE Porsche.
Andlauer held the lead at the start, whilst Frank Stippler vaulted from fourth on the grid to second by the opening corner aboard the #6 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3.
The German pressured the #3 Falken Porsche throughout the opening laps, using his straight-line speed advantage to briefly draw past on the start/finish straight 25 minutes in, but Andlauer was able to hold the position on the brakes into Turn 1.
The Frenchman was then able to pull away, establishing a nine-second margin over the battle for second between Stippler, Heinemann and Müller before the opening round of pit stops.
Unfortunately, any hopes of consecutive podium finishes for the Mustang disappeared during its first pit stop. A clutch issue struck when the car was restarted, and 45 minutes were lost to repairs. Patrick Kolb brought the car out to complete another stint before retiring after 15 laps.
The #4 Porsche was another loser during the first pit stop cycle. Heinemann pitted a lap earlier than his rivals, handing over to GT3 debutant Leuchter, who caught a Code 60, which was only a Code 120 for the rest of the frontrunners. This meant that, despite having a shorter minimum pit stop time than Andlauer, Leuchter was unable to claim the lead.
Andlauer proceeded to extend his advantage over Leuchter to almost 40 seconds before handing over to Joel Sturm shortly after the halfway mark, with Sturm maintaining the #3 Porsche’s lead until rain hit the circuit with one and a half hours to go.
Despite a brief trip onto the grass, Sturm managed to gain 29 seconds on Heinemann over the course of a single lap, as the Falken Porsches struggled on slick tyres on a wet circuit. Rather than pit immediately, the team elected to keep both cars out for a second slick-shod tour so they could get to the finish without making an additional pit stop.
A longer pit stop, necessitated by their earlier opening stop, and a pair of slow laps for Heinemann caused the lead gap to rapidly expand beyond the two-minute mark. The rain had stopped, and on a drying circuit Mike Stursberg in the #48 Porsche started to catch the Falken entries, passing Heinemann entering the Nordschleife with 40 minutes to go.
Sturm and Heinemann pitted to switch back to slicks with 33 minutes left on the clock, with Sturm comfortably retaining the lead over Stursberg. The #48 Porsche did not have enough fuel to go to the end, however, meaning the Falken Motorsports 1-2 was restored when Stursberg pitted with 12 minutes to go.
Sturm brought the #3 Porsche home one minute and 26 seconds ahead of Heinemann, with Müller, Stursberg and Mustafa Mehmet Kaya winning the SP9 Am class in third overall.
It is Falken Motorsports’ fourth NLS victory of the season, with the points earned today guaranteeing that one of the team’s entries will win this year’s NLS Speed Trophy.
Fourth overall, winning SP9 Pro-Am, was the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Christian Krognes, Mateo Villagomez and Anders Buchardt, ahead of the #44 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche and #786 Renazzo Motorsport Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.
The CUP2-winning #948 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) ended up seventh overall, 20 seconds ahead of the #921 Mühlner Motorsport entry, after seizing the advantage during the rain shower.
The #50 équipe Vitesse Audi R8 LMS GT3 and #901 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) completed the top 10 overall.
An early retirement in SP9 was the #21 Frikadelli Racing Team Ferrari 296 GT3, which was a last-minute entry for today’s race. The local outfit only entered as a shakedown, before owner-driver Klaus Abbelen contests his final GT3 race tomorrow.
Verstappen’s DPN Permit A eligibility still to be decided
One of the key stories of today’s race was Max Verstappen’s attempt to secure himself a DNP Permit A, which would allow him to race cars with less than 4.2kg/bhp, such as those in SP9, at the ‘Ring.
Verstappen, alongside Chris Lulham, was entered in a pair of Lionspeed GP Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS’, in the hopes he could achieve his two required lower-class results in one race.
Unfortunately, mechanical woes before the start meant that one of the Caymans, the SP7-entered #89, missed the green flag. The Dutchman completed his mandated 14 incident-free laps aboard the #980 Cayman, which went on to finish best of the Permit B-spec entries in CUP3, and emerged from the pits aboard the #89 Cayman on the final lap to ensure he contested the event in two different vehicles.
Although the #89 Cayman, which failed to complete a single racing lap, was not a classified finisher, by starting the race in two different vehicles, Verstappen can now appeal to be granted a Permit A, despite not meeting the requirement of two race finishes.
If he elects not to appeal this, or has his appeal rejected, he will have to contest another round in lower-class machinery.
This could be as soon as tomorrow, when the four-hour ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen, Round 8 of the 2025 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, takes place.
