Photos by: Felix Zech – motor.sport.gallery
Racing is back in the „Green Hell“! After Round 1 got canceled due to the typical and feared weather in the Eifel region Round 2 saw still chilly but finally race ready conditions. Even the sun showed her face for the highly anticipated debut of Max Verstappen in his new Mercedes AMG GT3.
Qualifying – Super Max on the charge
Speaking of Max Verstappen, he and his Co-Drivers in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing (Verstappen/Gounon/Juncadella) took Pole Position by nearly 2 seconds over the #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS Evo2 (Haase/Hantke). In third the #98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo (Farfus/Marciello/Van der Lind, K.). A very pleasant surprise came from the #81 Schubert Motorsport BMW M3 Touring 24H entry. The SP-X (Special class entry) entered car based around the M3 Touring April fools joke from BMW got so much positive feedback by the community, that BMW decided to out this joke onto the track in real life. The M3 Touring 24H is powered by the same engine as the M4 GT3 Evo and went on to end Qualifying in P14 orverall with a 7:58,943. Probably the fastest family car in the world.
Race – A flying “Haase” vs the F1 Champion
After taking Pole Position Max Verstappen defended his position into turn one and led the way. Many would have thought he would escape with the lead and disappear from the rest. But Christopher Haase had other ideas. He stayed close to Verstappen for the whole of Lap 1 and once on the ‘Döttinger Höhe’ he used the Audi’s ability being very efficient in slipstream to pass Max Verstappen midway on the straight. Verstappen also had no chance to counter that move as the Mercedes once again showed it weakness of top end speed.
After that Verstappen was hunting Haase for the whole of the first hour while both of them build a seizable gap to the rest of the field behind. After 5 laps the first top cars opted for a short first stint. Especially notable was the #99 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo (Harper/Pepper). Pepper took over the car and eminently made an impact. While the leading pair of Verstappen and Haase chased each other, those who took an early pitstop hoped for clean laps and fired up their new tires. With the rules at NLS having fixed pit stop times for each lap the stint takes, these cars could expect to jump several positions. Their plan was to create a gap to the non-stopped cars before their last stop will be a short stop.
After 7 laps it was then time for the non-stopped cars to do their first pitstop of the race. Verstappen now almost trailing Haase in the rear Diffusor for an entire hour probably thought to himself he cannot give the car to Dani Juncadella not beaing first. With a bit of fortune in traffic he generated a slight overshoot and pretty early on the straight he could position himself slightly ahead of Haase. But as the commentators predicted it was a bit early. Haase was able to use the side draft to pull himself alongside of the Mercedes. Both of the went side by side under the Bilstein Bridge and up to the last corners. Haase however decided to lift and Verstappen braved it out taking the lead. Both cars swapped drivers, the #3 to Juncadella and the #16 to Hantke. All of Verstappen’s work was cut short when the Winward Pitcrew released the #3 a second to late giving the Position back to the #16 as they timed the mandatory time to perfection.
That lead however got taken away by Juncadella at Flugplatz with a great look to the inside of Hantke. #3 back in front of #16. Hantke, who has not a lot of experience in the GT3 class on the Nordschleife, soon found himself being attacked by the front running cars that took the short first stint. First Fukuzumi in the #47 KCMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Fukuzumi/Pittard/Tsuboi/Krohn) then Pepper in the #99 and the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Krognes/Drudi) overtook the #16 one after another. Fukuzumi then lost the second place to Pepper. Hantke lost another position to the Pro-Am leading #48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON Porsche 911 GT3 R (Assenheimer/Müller/Pereira).
Shortly after the secound round of pitstops for those who took the shorter first stint came. On track a nice battle pack of three cars formed for the eighth spot. Chasing the #45 Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi Ferrari 296 Evo (Perel/Neubauer/Vermeulen) was the #130 Red Bull Team Abt Lamborghini Huracan Evo2 (Bortolotti/Engstler/Mapelli/Niederhauser) and the #44 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (Heinemann/Müller). After all of the front runners served their pitstops Gounon took over the #3 and Harper the #99. Harper was able to close the gap to Gounon in the first laps of the third stint and Gounon briefly even lost the lead but was able to use traffic to his advantage and regain the lead back from Harper. During that battle Harper touched a slower GT4 Cayman and got awarded Penalty Lap where he lost 5 seconds.
Another battle pack formed behind the podium places where Haase overtook the #47 now with the Super GT and Super Formula ace Sho Tsuboi at the wheel. Tusboi then needed to defend from Pereira in the #48 Porsche. After Pereira passed Tsuboi tried to follow and learn as much as he could on his debut at the Nordschleife.
With one hour to go the cars that took the short first stint now had the disadvantage of a longer last pitstop. With the #99 and the #34 two of the top three cars had to take that longer pitstop bringing the field back closer together but also giving the #3 a bigger gap once they have to do their stop. With about 45 minutes to go it was time for the other cars to serve their last stop and with that Max Verstappen climed back onboard the #3 Mercedes to finish it of. Another great Christopher Haase stint and a short pitstop now meant that behind Max Verstappen the #16 retook second position with Hantke at the wheel. While Hantke was busy defending his second position, the three cars behind swarmed over each other on the long straight before the end of the lap and the #44 Falken Porsch snatched fourth from the #48 LOSCH Porsche. Pereira, still in the #48, even lost out to Krognes in the #34 Aston Martin. The joy from the Aston Martin though was short-lived as Pereira outbraked the Aston Martin into Turn 1 around the outside. Vermeulen in the #45 Kondo Ferrari joined the party and overtook Krognes beautifully round the outside in Turn 2 as well.
At the end of the lap they reached Hantke, now in third. Heinemann in the Falken Porsche got through cleanly up to third while Pereira and Vermeulen battled on the GP Course. In Turn 5/6 Vermeulen was outside of Pereira but Pereira touched Vermeulen and send him onto the grass. Both Pereira and Vermeulen then chased Hantke for the entire lap and passed him on the next lap on the GP Course. Heinemann in the #44 then set his sights to the #99 Bmw in second. Entering the last lap they were 1,6 seconds apart.
Max Verstappen crossed the line in first place with the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing (Verstappen/Gounon/Juncadella) but a post race penalty for one set of tires used over the limit saw the get disqualified two hours after the race. A mistake that occurred during Qualifying where they rotated between the drivers and forgot about their available sets of tires. A rookie mistake on the teams NLS debut. Still a gap of a minute over the whole field should be promising for what’s to come.
That then meant that the race winner was the #99 ROWE Racing Team (Pepper/Harper) followed by the #44 Falken Motorsports Team (Müller/Heinemann) and the #48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON (Assenheimer/Müller/Pereira) who also won the Pro-Am category.
A great season opener with great battles, a Formula 1 World Champion, a huge crowd and an appetizer for what’s to come in the 2026 NLS Season and the infamous 24 Hours of the Norschleife!
Photos by: Felix Zech – motor.sport.gallery
