Photo finish on the Nordschleife: Schubert Motorsport wins a thriller

The 65th ADAC Reinoldus Endurance Race treated fans at the Nürburgring Nordschleife to four hours of top-class endurance racing and a highly dramatic finale: After completing 27 laps, Schubert Motorsport secured overall victory in the eighth round of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Endurance Series. Jens Klingmann, Jordan Pepper and Ugo de Wilde crossed the finish line in the BMW M4 GT3 EVO with a razor-thin lead of just 0.308 seconds. Close behind, Tim Heinemann and Morris Schuring took second place in the Porsche 911 GT3 R from Falken Motorsports. Dominik and Marcel Fugel, together with Benjamin Leuchter for Max Kruse Racing, secured a historic third place on the overall winners’ podium in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II. The trio not only celebrated an undisputed class victory in AT 1, but also went down in the history books as the first team ever to secure a podium finish in the overall standings with a GT3 car running on E20 fuel.

In qualifying, the field underlined the high standard of the series. The top twelve cars were separated by just ten seconds. Pole position was secured by the trio of Antal Zsigo, Moritz Kranz and David Jahn in Gamota Racing’s BMW M4 GT3 EVO with a lap time of 7:53.343 minutes. The Dunlop Motorsport team, on the other hand, had to cope with a grid penalty: Nico Menzel and Flynt Schuring were demoted from eighth on the grid to eleventh following a collision in the early stages of qualifying, but staged an impressive comeback in the race to finish fifth overall, behind the fourth-placed Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Mercedes-AMG Team RAVENOL.

Tactical pit stops and changing leaders

The victory was fiercely contested over the course of the 27 laps. Immediately after the start, Pepper in the Schubert BMW took the lead from the pole-sitters in the AMG Arena. In the opening laps, the Schubert BMW and the Gamota BMW engaged in spectacular battles for position at the front – including a daring overtaking manoeuvre at the Schwedenkreuz.

Due to differently timed pit-stop strategies, the overall lead changed hands several times during the race. The Audi R8 from Max Kruse Racing, which eventually finished third, took advantage of a longer first and third stint and led the field at times. Benjamin Leuchter put the historic significance of the victory into perspective at the finish line: “This is huge for us. We’re the first AT-GT3 car on the overall podium in a field of 27 GT3 cars. That makes us very proud, and I’m simply delighted that we’ve finally broken the deadlock and weren’t plagued by bad luck for once.” Team-mates Marcel and Dominik Fugel were also delighted with the team’s performance, which had prepared the Audi perfectly despite all the setbacks of the season: “All three of us really delivered today. Considering we don’t do this full-time, that wasn’t too bad at all.”

Falken Motorsports took the lead after the first pit stop phase and were back at the front again later on. Morris Schuring reflected on the close battle: “That was some brilliant racing. I had a bit of bad luck with an Aston Martin whilst lapping, which might have been the deciding factor, but it was great fun.” Tim Heinemann also drew a positive conclusion: “That was exactly what the fans want to see: close, hard-fought racing. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough for us in the end, but we’re still satisfied.”

A collision in the AMG Arena between the Ford Mustang GT3 from Haupt Racing Team (Vincent Kolb / Frank Stippler) and the Porsche 911 GT3 R from BLACK FALCON Team EAE (Daan Arrow / Mustafa Mehmet Kaya / Mike Stursberg). Despite spinning, BLACK FALCON Team EAE fought their way back and comfortably secured class victory in the SP9 Am (eleventh overall). The Mustang retired early. Victory in the SP9 Pro-Am was claimed by 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON, with Patrick Assenheimer, Tobias Müller and Dylan Pereira in the Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO, finishing sixth overall.

The battle for overall victory was decided after the final pit stop, when Schubert Motorsport retook the lead on lap 24. In the remaining laps, Heinemann and Schuring kept the leading BMW under constant pressure, staying bumper to bumper. However, Schubert Motorsport defended its position flawlessly and crossed the finish line after four hours with a lead of 0.308 seconds. Winner Jens Klingmann summed it up, beaming with joy: “That was truly motor racing at its finest – exactly what we as drivers want and what the fans want to see. At NLS6 we lost by two tenths of a second; today we won. On the Döttinger Höhe I already had the feeling it was enough, but traffic from lapped cars made it really tight again. It makes it all the more satisfying that it was enough in the end.” Incidentally, the team from Oschersleben had double reason to celebrate on Saturday: at the Sachsenring, Marco Wittmann claimed victory in the first DTM race in his BMW M4 GT3.

A nail-biting finish in the BMW M2 class and successes in the one-make cups

It wasn’t just at the front of the field that a photo finish set hearts racing: spectators witnessed an almost equally dramatic finish in the BMW M2 class. After four hours of racing, Ranko Mijatovic, driving for Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport in the BMW M2 Racing, edged out the duo of Marc David Müller and Henrik Seibel by a wafer-thin margin of 0.352 seconds. In the highly competitive CUP2 class (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup), the BLACK FALCON Team ZIMMERMANN dominated: Alexander Hardt, ‘Benjamin Hites’ and Benjamin Koslowski secured class victory with an excellent 13th place overall.

Title race remains highly dramatic: neck and neck at the top of the standings

In the battle for the overall championship in the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Endurance Series, the top favourites gave each other no quarter. The leading trio of Edoardo Bugane, Yannick Fübrich and Sven Markert in the BMW M240i Racing Cup for the Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels continued their flawless run and celebrated another class victory. But their closest rivals in the title race were not to be outdone either: Alexander Fielenbach and Oskar Sandberg, racing for Smyrlis Racing in a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS, took the CUP3 class win. As both title contenders secured the full points haul, the standings at the top of the table remain unchanged.

It’s one race after another

The teams and drivers don’t have much time to catch their breath: the next round of the 66th ADAC ACAS Cup takes place as early as tomorrow, Sunday.