Nürburgring Post-Race Notebook

***ROWE Racing’s triumph in the 53rd running of the Nürburgring 24 means BMW further extended its lead as the most successful manufacturer at the event. The Munich marque now sits at 21 wins, eight ahead of Porsche in second place.

***Meanwhile, the Hans-Peter Naundorf-led ROWE squad captured its second overall N24 win, following on from its 2020 victory with Nicky Catsburg, Nick Yelloly and Alexander Sims.

***Half of the driver lineup on the winning No. 98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO became first-time N24 winners as Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello had not won previously. “It’s very nice,” Marciello told Sportscar365. “I always dreamt of winning this race. I have Spa and Nürburgring, so now I have to focus on Le Mans and Daytona.”

***Augusto Farfus, for his part, ended a 15-year win drought at the event. The Brazilian last stood on the top step in 2010, sharing a BMW M3 GT2 with Uwe Alzen, Joerg Mueller and Pedro Lamy. Kelvin van der Linde, meanwhile, joined an exclusive club of just seven drivers to have won the N24 overall three times. The previous names to achieve that feat were Herbert Hechler, Klaus Ludwig, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Markus Winkelhock, Christopher Mies and Frank Stippler.

***Farfus and Van der Linde, who also won the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour together, remained at the top of the Intercontinental GT Challenge drivers’ standings with 50 points each. Raffaele Marciello is second on 43 points, followed by Ayhancan Guven with 26. Sheldon van der Linde, who also won Bathurst but didn’t compete at the Nürburgring, drops to fourth on 25 points.

***Despite only having a single car eligible to score points, the victory for ROWE has allowed BMW to retain its position atop the manufacturers’ standings with 68 points. Thanks to its double podium courtesy of Manthey EMA and Dinamic GT, Porsche pulls level with Mercedes-AMG in second place, with both brands 23 points adrift. No points were scored towards the Independent Cup standings.

***Although the 141 laps completed by the race-winning BMW were significantly more than last year’s fog-shortened edition, it failed to match the record distance of 162 laps set by Frikadelli Racing Team in 2023. Hopes for a new record, which were strengthened by the good weather conditions, were dashed by the second-hour red flag that came as the result of a power cut in the pits.

***It is understood that the power outage came as the result of air conditioning systems overloading the power grid. The loss of power then subsequently caused the refueling pumps in the pits to stop working, which was one of the leading reasons why the red flag was called.

***ROWE team boss Naundorf told Sportscar365 about the outage: “Everything just went black and you don’t know if it’s only your devices, if it’s the pits, if it’s the whole pits area. We had a backup solution with us, so we just ran our diesel generators, putting power back on, at least for the radio and for the monitors, for the laptops to keep on working. Then we realized all the others also don’t have anything. And then we realized that the marshals on track or at least race control likely also don’t have power. ‘So we thought, ‘Okay, there has to be a red flag to solve all these problems.”

***In addition to securing the overall victory, BMW also completed a successful maiden N24 outing for its new-for-2026 M2 Racing. Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde, Charles Weerts and Michael Brautigam won the SP3T category with a margin of nine laps over the next car in class. “The car performed very well,” said Weerts. “Our primary goal was to finish the race – and then to be as successful as possible. And we achieved that. Michael, Ugo, Jens, and the entire team did a fantastic job. It’s great to see that the project worked so well. If the car survives the 24 hours at the Nürburgring, it’s a very successful test for the car.”

***Mercedes-AMG experienced a disappointing N24 outing with its pair of factory-supported, GetSpeed Performance-entered cars. The No. 14 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which had started the race in third place, retired in the ninth hour due to a drivetrain failure. The No. 17 car then encountered suspension problems on Sunday morning, which in turn caused further issues with the underbody. It was initially parked and then returned to complete the final lap, finishing 75th overall.

***Stefan Wendl, the brand’s head of customer racing, said: “We are leaving the Nürburgring disappointed, especially because we were definitely expecting a podium finish. The preparations for the 24-hour race together with Team GetSpeed were excellent. We had the performance with both cars over the distance to be at the front – which we showed until the retirements. Thanks to our fans for their support and congratulations to BMW and ROWE Racing on their victory.”

***Lamborghini matched its best N24 finish of fifth, which it scored last year, with the No. 28 ABT Sportsline entry of Marco Mapelli, Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper. The car looked in contention for third until a driveshaft had to be replaced at the final pitstop, dropping the car to fifth. Mapelli took back fourth from the No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3, but was given a 32-second penalty for a collision with the Mustang on the final lap. The sister No. 27 Lamborghini of Jordan Pepper, Mirko Bortolotti and Daniel Juncadella also encountered a driveshaft issue on Sunday afternoon, which in this case proved terminal.

***The high rate of attrition in the SP9 category is reflected in the fact that the Cup2-winning No. 948 48 LOSCH Motorsport by Black Falcon Porsche 992 GT3 Cup came within two minutes of securing a spot in the overall top ten. Tobias Mueller, Noah Nagelsdiek, Dylan Pereira and Carlos Rivas finished a minute and 59.727 seconds behind the tenth-placed No. 786 Renazzo Motorsport Team Lamborghini. The latter also won the SP9 Am class.

***Nordschleife stalwart Volker Strycek captured a 15th N24 class victory as part of the SP8T-winning lineup aboard the No. 59 Doerr Motorsport McLaren Artura Trophy Evo that also included Ben Doerr, Phil Doerr and Mike David Ortmann.

***Hyundai’s undefeated streak in the TCR category continued into its fifth consecutive year, thanks to a class win for the No. 830 Elantra N TCR driven by Marc Basseng, Christer Joens and Manuel Lauck. The trio completed 130 laps, three more than the sister car of Robert Wickens, Mason Filippi, Bryson Morris and Michael Lewis.

***Officials from ADAC Nordrhein on Sunday confirmed a new attendance record of 280,000 spectators. This marks a significant improvement from last year’s edition, which was attended by 240,000 people.

***The Intercontinental GT Challenge is set to continue its season this coming weekend, when the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa forms the last part of a triple header of consecutive 24-hour races.