Winning Ferrari Disqualified; HRT Mercedes Inherits Victory

The Octane 126 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo that won Sunday’s four-hour Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie race has been disqualified for a technical infringement.

A post-race scrutineering check found that its rear-left Goodyear tire was non-compliant with the rules laid out by the DMSB German motorsport federation and the VLN organization which oversees the NLS championship.

The stewards’ decision read that “on vehicle No. 26, a tire with a designated specification was used on the left rear, which the manufacturer did not include in the Box 1 list.”

According to the series, tire manufacturers are required to provide a sample of the slick tire compounds being used in each race. 

Octane 126’s disqualification means that Haupt Racing Team provisionally inherits the round three win, after its Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Adam Christodoulou, Luca Stolz, Manuel Metzger and Maro Engel finished second on the road.

It also promotes the No. 32 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to second position, and the No. 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 to third.

However, the results of Sunday’s race remain provisional while Octane 126 has until Monday evening to appeal the stewards’ decision.

Bjorn Grossmann, Jonathan Hirschi, Simon Trummer and Luca Ludwig drove for the Swiss team, which appeared to have claimed a rare Ferrari victory in the NLS series which is typically dominated by the major German racing manufacturers.

RESULTS: ADAC Barbarossapreis (provisional)