Kobayashi to Race Supra GT4 Evo in NLS Opener

Toyota FIA World Endurance Championship star and team principal Kamui Kobayashi will make his Nürburgring Nordschleife debut this weekend, driving a Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO in the NLS season opener.

Kobayashi will share the No. 172 car, entered into the SP10 class by Toyota Gazoo Racing, with SUPER GT racer Kazuto Kotaka across both of this weekend’s four-hour races.

Notably, Kobayashi is not the only top-level prototype driver to appear on the Nordschleife grid this weekend.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver Jack Aitken will pilot a Hyundai i30N entered by Walkenhorst Motorsport, sharing driving duties with Micah Stanley and Joseph Warhurst.

The field is spearheaded by a double-figure grid in SP9, with 13 cars taking part on Saturday and eleven on Sunday.

Haupt Racing Team has entered a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos, headlined by Daniel Juncadella and Frank Bird while Dennis Fetzer, Hubert Haupt and Ralf Aron share the second car.

Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor will team up aboard the No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R, while Red Bull Team ABT has entered its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for Kelvin van der Linde and Jordan Pepper.

Scherer Sport PHX will take part in the opening four-hour race on Saturday with its No. 16 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II driven by Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock.

Falken Motorsports, meanwhile, will alternate its lineup aboard the No. 4 Porsche, with Joel Eriksson teaming up with Nico Menzel on Saturday and Tim Heinemann on Sunday.

Glickenhaus Racing returns to action for the first time since the American squad closed down its WEC Hypercar program following the conclusion of the 2023 season.

Its SCG 004C has been entered into the SP-X class with Thomas Mutsch, Franck Mailleux and Lance David Arnold listed as drivers.

Elsewhere on the entry for both races, 2016 Nürburgring 24 winner Manuel Metzger returns to racing in a Black Falcon-entered BMW M4 GT4, driving alongside social media personalities Jimmy Broadbent, Steve Brown and Misha Charoudin.

Former DTM racer Timo Glock, meanwhile, will lineup aboard a BMW M24oi Racing Cup while Robert Wickens and Mark Wilkins will share a Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N TCR.

The first of this weekend’s two NLS races kicks off Saturday at 12 p.m. CEST (6:00 a.m. EDT).