Photo finish at NLS6: First victory for the new Dunlop Porsche

The sixth round of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Endurance Series ended in a real photo finish. In glorious weather and midsummer temperatures, which demanded the very best from both driver and car on the track, Nico Menzel and Sven Müller celebrated a historic victory in the new Dunlop Porsche 911 GT3 R after 4:09:46.280 hours. The duo crossed the finish line at the 1st ADAC Eifel Trophy with a lead of just 0.319 seconds. For Menzel, it was the fifth victory of his NLS career, whilst Müller secured his seventh overall win. After 27 laps, the duo narrowly edged out Jens Klingmann and Robin Frijns in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Third place was secured by the Pro-Am crew from 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON: Patrick Assenheimer, Tobias Müller and Dylan Pereira steered their Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO to the remaining podium spot following a flawless team performance.

In qualifying, Christian Krognes and Mateo Villagomez initially demonstrated their potential in the Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO. With a lap time of 7:54.452 minutes, Krognes secured pole position for the team. The Norwegian maintained the lead at the start and entered the first corner in first place. As the race progressed, however, the Aston Martin lost ground during the first pit stop phase and was forced to let the leading group pull away. On the very last lap of the race, the Walkenhorst team lost another place when Adam Christodoulou, Jake Hill and Kyle Tilley in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 from PROsport racing overtook them in the final sprint to secure fourth place. In the end, the pole-setters finished fifth overall.

The sixth round of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Endurance Series ended in a real photo finish. In glorious weather and midsummer temperatures, which demanded the very best from both driver and car on the track, Nico Menzel and Sven Müller celebrated a historic victory in the new Dunlop Porsche 911 GT3 R after 4:09:46.280 hours. The duo crossed the finish line at the 1st ADAC Eifel Trophy with a lead of just 0.319 seconds. For Menzel, it was the fifth victory of his NLS career, whilst Müller secured his seventh overall win. After 27 laps, the duo narrowly edged out Jens Klingmann and Robin Frijns in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Third place was secured by the Pro-Am crew from 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON: Patrick Assenheimer, Tobias Müller and Dylan Pereira steered their Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO to the remaining podium spot following a flawless team performance.

In qualifying, Christian Krognes and Mateo Villagomez initially demonstrated their potential in the Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO. With a lap time of 7:54.452 minutes, Krognes secured pole position for the team. The Norwegian maintained the lead at the start and entered the first corner in the lead. As the race progressed, however, the Aston Martin lost ground during the first pit stop phase and had to let the leading group pull away. On the very last lap of the race, the Walkenhorst team lost another place when Adam Christodoulou, Jake Hill and Kyle Tilley in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 from PROsport racing overtook them in the final sprint to secure fourth place. In the end, the pole-setters finished fifth overall.

After crossing the finish line, the intense tension of the final laps was written all over the drivers’ faces. Müller, visibly moved by the close result, said: “I don’t think it could have been any closer. We certainly didn’t imagine it would be this tight at the end.” His team-mate Menzel added, with a sigh of relief: “That was a real nail-biter! My heart did skip a beat when another Code 60 came in on the final lap.” Klingmann, from the second-placed Schubert Motorsport team, also drew a positive conclusion despite narrowly missing out on victory: “It was definitely good fun. There was a lot going on out on the track and it was all rather chaotic out there. But yes, in the end we finished P2. I think we can still be satisfied.” When asked about the extreme temperatures, Pereira added: “It was a hot race, but we fought our way through. In the end, we’re in P3 in the overall standings and P1 in the Pro-Am. We’re happy!”

In the Cup 2 class of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring, Raphael Rennhofer caught the eye. At the wheel of the No. 902 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from Team LIQUI MOLY by BLACK FALCON, the young driver put in a strong performance in the fiercely contested one-make cup. Thanks to this impressive performance, the ILN, race control and the track announcers jointly named him ‘Driver of the Race’.

Rennhofer, who finished second in his class alongside Ryan Harrison and Leon Wassertheurer, commented enthusiastically on the success: “Yes, that’s absolutely brilliant! I was very pleased with my own performance; I felt that this was my best race so far on the Nordschleife. The fact that the officials noticed that too makes me proud.” Meanwhile, the class victory in the Cup 2 class went to Nico Bastian and Martin Rump in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from Mühlner Motorsport.

Alongside the GT3 cars at the top of the overall standings, the BMW M240i Racing Cup class in particular provided thrills right up to the finish line. In a nail-biting finish decided by a fraction of a second, Sven Markert, Edoardo Bugane, Tim Lukas Müller and Yannick Fübrich in car number 651 for the Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels ultimately came out on top. After more than four hours of gruelling action on the Nordschleife, the class winners crossed the line just a hair’s breadth – 1.028 seconds – ahead of their closest rivals. Aiden Mulready, Joshua Hislop and James Breakell put in a furious chase in car number 667, but were pipped at the post by the well-coordinated Adrenalin quartet in the final sprint after 23 laps.

This dramatic outcome had an immediate impact on the championship at the start of the second half of the season: ahead of the race weekend, Bugane, Fübrich and Markert were still level on points with the Smyrlis duo of Oskar Sandberg and Alexander Fielenbach at the top of the table. Whilst the Adrenalin team secured the maximum number of points with their class victory and took sole leadership of the standings with 60 points, their rivals faced a dramatic turn of events. Following an accident on the Schwalbenschwanz section of the track, Sandberg was forced to retire the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS early.

The XXL-distance race is scheduled for 1 August. The KW 6h ADAC Ruhr Cup race is the highlight of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Endurance Series season. With the race duration increased by 50 per cent, more points are up for grabs in the championship.