Mueller, Schuring Lead Porsche 1-2-3-4 in NLS1

Sven Mueller and Morris Schuring took victory for Falken Motorsports in the Porsche-dominated ADAC Westfalenfahrt, with cars from the Stuttgart manufacturer sweeping the top four positions.

The No. 3 Porsche 911 GT3 R finished 3.068 seconds clear of the No. 4 sister machine of Nico Menzel and Dorian Boccolacci after four hours of racing.

Ayhancan Guven and Thomas Preining completed the podium aboard the No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche, with Bastian Buus and Matteo Cairoli fourth for Dinamic GT.

ROWE Racing was the best non-Porsche runner in fifth place, with Augusto Farfus, Kelvin van der Linde, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello at the wheel of the No. 98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

JUTA Racing started the race from pole position thanks to Nordschleife veteran Frank Stippler, who steered the No. 8 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to a lap of 7:51.530 in qualifying.

Stippler led the opening lap before pitting for slicks, with teams opting for varying tire strategies amidst changeable conditions, which promoted both the No. 27 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and No. 17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to the lead before they too pitted.

The pair of Falken Porsches, meanwhile, began charging up the field and assumed the lead in the second hour, with the two Schnabl Engineering-run cars going on to finish over a minute clear of the third-placed Manthey Porsche.

Schuring, notably, took his maiden NLS victory, following ten years after his father Gerwin achieved a similar feat with Black Falcon in what was the final NLS victory for a non-GT3 car to date.

The elder Schuring won the race in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, sharing driving duties with Manuel Metzger and Philipp Eng.

The No. 17 Mercedes-AMG of Ralf Aron, Lucas Auer, Adam Christodoulou and Mikael Grenier finished in sixth, ahead of the No. 27 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini piloted by Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper and Luca Engstler.

Markus Winkelhock and Luca Ludwig took eighth for Scherer Sport PHX, with Black Falcon Team EAE capturing the SP9 Pro-Am victory and ninth overall upon its GT3 debut. JUTA’s No. 8 Audi completed the overall top ten.

Haupt Racing Team recorded a best finish of twelfth upon debut with the Ford Mustang GT3, with Dennis Fetzer, Jusuf Owega, Dirk Mueller and David Schumacher finishing behind the No. 45 Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi Ferrari 296 GT3.

The sister No. 2 Ford did not take the start after a crash in qualifying.

GetSpeed’s No. 14 Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, failed to finish after Maro Engel hit an oil patch and crashed out at Bergwerk in the second hour.

RESULTS: ADAC Westfalenfahrt