Abt-Lamborghini takes home the win outright

The Nürburgring Endurance Series NLS season kicked off last weekend at the legendary Nordschleife. After Saturday’s race was overshadowed by a fatal accident involving Robert Wickens, which thankfully went a little too far, there was drama in the old VLN series on Sunday.

The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo II presented by Team Abt with drivers Kelvin van der Linde and Jordan Pepper was on course for victory before the start of the 28th and supposed final lap. Shortly before the time expired, Pepper was leading by eight seconds over the Grello-Porsche from Manthey EMA with the two drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre.

Closest finish in VLN history: Grello-Porsche takes victory

But Porsche, with Vanthoor at the wheel, closed quickly shortly before the end of the 4-hour distance. For Lambo it was not only a race against Porsche, but also against the clock. According to team radio instructions, Pepper had to try to slow down enough to cross the finish line just after the time had expired. Otherwise he would have to complete another circuit around the 24.358 km long ‘Green Hell’.

However, there was no longer enough fuel in the Lamborghini for another round, as Abt Motorsport Director Martin Tomczyk told us. Motorsport-Magazin.com he explained: “We expected a 28-lap race and therefore did not put enough fuel in the tank at our last stop (after 24 laps, editor’s note) – which was our fault.”

However, Abt’s team’s slow-down tactics backfired. Pepper gained a lot of speed after exiting the Hohenrain chicane and entering the Grand Prix track. Vanthoor did not need to be asked twice and passed the South African a few meters before the finish line. The Belgian even set the fastest lap (7:56.473) on the Nordschleife on the last lap en route to victory.

Too little fat and too much deceleration: Abt drops twice

A lead of just 0.042 seconds helped the two Porsche works drivers Vanthoor and Estre to victory. It was the pair’s sixth and fifth NLS wins, and also gave record winner Manthey their 57th VLN/NLS win. The day before they finished in second place, narrowly beaten. At the same time, it was also the closest finish in the 48-year history of the prestigious championship.

Abt had to admit defeat badly. Especially painful for the abbot: the Porsche 911 GT3 R crossed the finish line 1.768 seconds after the end of the 4-hour race. So without the final climb after Hohenrain, Pepper would have had enough chance to get his lead over the line without having to make a lap another. Tomcyzk defended his driver: “You can’t blame Jordan, he followed all our instructions.”

NLS 2 2024: Results from the Nürburgring

The podium in the SP9 Pro class, which consists of five GT3 cars, was completed by another Porsche, the 911 GT3 R from Falken Motorsport. The winning car in Saturday’s race crossed the finish line 19 seconds back. While Joel Eriksson celebrated victory with Nico Menzel at the season opener, Tim Heinemann from Fichtenberg was at the start on Sunday with the Swede. Menzel withdrew from the race for health reasons after visiting a medical facility.

There was also an exciting final in the Porsche Cup. The Black Falcon team with drivers Tobias Müller and Noah Nagelsdiek won in Cup category 2. In the final lap at Döttinger Höhe, Müller overtook Peter Terting in the front car of Mühlner Motorsport (teammate: Moritz Kranz).

In the GT3-Am class (official: SP9 Am) victory went to Lamborghini from Renazzo Motorsport (drivers: Sak Nana, Christoph Breuer, ‘Dieter Schmidtmann’). In the GT4 category, which is also very strong and runs officially under the name SP10, Dörr Motorsport came out on top with the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (drivers: Oskar Sandberg, Aaron Weinisch, Nick Wüstenhagen).

As one of the few remaining Nordschleife migrants, the Glickenhaus SCG004c (drivers: Thomas Mutsch, Franck Mailleux, Lance David Arnold) crossed the finish line in fifth place overall as the sole starter in the SP-X class.

NLS 2 2024 – Full results