Van der Linde: “More Obstacles” for Repeat N24 Success

Kelvin van der Linde says repeating his Nürburgring 24 success from last year will be more difficult as the larger 161-car grid provides “more obstacles.”

Van der Linde triumphed in the 2025 Nordschleife contest alongside Augusto Farfus, Raffaele Marciello and Jesse Krohn in a ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and is seeking to repeat that success this weekend with Jordan Pepper taking Krohn’s place in the lineup.

However, van der Linde believes the larger N24 entry, which includes 41 GT3 cars in the top SP9 class, adds another dimension to the race.

“It makes a big difference having a bigger grid,” the three-time event winner told Sportscar365. “I think there will be a lot more Code 60s and that element to it changes the race quite a bit.

“For us, it’s a lot more stress. The more obstacles you have on the track, the more difficult it is over 24 hours — it’s going to be a race of attrition, you just need to finish.

“Coming there as the defending champions, we’re going to have a similar approach and everything that isn’t a win is going to be disappointing.

“But it could again be a classic Nürburgring race with the weather — it’s a month earlier this year.”

Van der Linde triumphed as part of the sole GT3-spec BMW entry last year, but the German manufacturer has a three-car presence this time around, in addition to the unique BMW M3 Touring 24H wagon that is heavily based on the M4 GT3 EVO.

Head of BMW M Motorsport Andreas Roos told Sportscar365 the marque nearly did not have an entry at all last year amid a congested calendar and joked that “our financial controlling said it was ideal having only one car” that went on to triumph.

“But we all know how difficult it is to win the Nürburgring with all the different classes,” he continued.

“We’ve often been very strong there in the past but ran into issues or trouble in the race. The more cars you have, you increase the chance [of winning].

“The Nürburgring is our home turf — all our road car products is running on the Nordschleife — it’s our race track and BMW has the most overall victories there, so looking forward.”

BMW has already enjoyed success in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Series this year, with Pepper and Dan Harper triumphing in NLS2 after Verstappen Racing was disqualified, while the Schubert Motorsport machine of Robin Frijns, Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann was victorious in NLS3.

Those crews run on different tires with the ROWE car on Michelins, while the Schubert machine was using Yokohamas.

Roos said utilizing multiple brands brings both positive and negative aspects, adding: “It’s easier when you focus on just one tire manufacturer as you have all the information.

“But, on the other hand, the Nürburgring is one of the 24-hour races where you still have tire choice.

“It’s interesting when you work with different tire manufacturers and try to improve the product and fit it perfectly to our M4 GT3 EVO.

“With Michelin, we’ve ran already the last years and we won already with the tire.

“It’s interesting with Yokohama, they put a lot of effort in and it’s nice to see this and work with them.

“This year we have one NLS win with the Michelin and one NLS win with the Yokohama, so it’s 1-1 at the moment, let’s see what the big one brings!”

While Roos was pleased to have already tasted success on the Nordschleife this year, he cautioned that fighting for victories was not the ultimate aim of those NLS outings, with other teams adopting the same approach.

“The main focus on the NLS races is to get best prepared [for the N24], to give the drivers, the teams and everything the chance to get back and to do the fine-tuning on the car, the setup and to get everything in the window,” he explained.