– Schubert Motorsport won the eighth round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series after a turbulent and open race until the very end. Jens Klingmann prevailed in the BMW M4 GT3 Evo with the starting number 77 in an exciting finale against the Falken Porsche. At the same time, the team also celebrated Marco Wittmann’s victory in the DTM at the Sachsenring.
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Together with Jordan Pepper and Ugo de Wilde, Klingmann secured the overall victory for Schubert Motorsport. Second place went to Falken Motorsports with Tim Heinemann and Morris Schuring. Max Kruse Racing caused a surprise with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in third overall.
RESULT
“I think today was really top-class motorsport,” Klingmann said after the race. “You never knew who would win in the end. There were only small gaps.” Numerous incidents and Code-60 phases additionally ensured that no clear picture emerged over more than four hours.
Duel right from the start
Right after the start, Schubert Motorsport with Pepper took the lead from the Gamota BMW of David Jahn. Behind them, things were also heating up. Max Kruse Racing mixed early in the leading group with Benjamin Leuchter, while Falken Motorsports also quickly gained ground.
Gamota Racing struck back initially. Jahn took the lead again at the end of the third lap, but Pepper countered shortly after with a spectacular maneuver. On the way through the Schwedenkreuz, the Schubert driver even used the grass to get past his BMW brand colleague again.
The Haupt Racing Team, on the other hand, ran into trouble early. The Ford Mustang GT3 with Frank Stippler had to be pushed to the pits after six laps with a heavily damaged front. This meant that one of the candidates for a top position was already out of the race early on.
Scare moment for Max Kruse Racing
Max Kruse Racing also experienced a scare moment. A lapped BMW had crashed into the barrier after a collision with Fabian Schiller’s Winward Mercedes and was thrown back onto the track directly in front of the Audi with number 75. Marcel Fugel was just able to react in time.
The Audi lost time and positions but remained in the race. This would pay off later, as Max Kruse Racing pursued a different pit stop strategy than the direct competition. The numerous Code-60 phases also shifted stint lengths and made the tactical situation difficult to read for a long time.
Elsewhere, things were also turbulent. Daan Arrow spun in the early phase after contact with Stippler in the AMG Arena. Later, Dieter Schmidtmann went onto the grass in the Lamborghini while braking for the Hohenrain chicane and collided with another vehicle.
Hard duel for the lead
In the second half of the race, a duel increasingly developed at the front between Schubert Motorsport and Falken Motorsports. Both teams were within striking distance. At the same time, the dense traffic with 133 started vehicles repeatedly caused critical situations.
Half an hour before the end, a key scene occurred. The leading Falken driver Morris Schuring and Schubert’s final driver Jens Klingmann caught up to the then second-placed Walkenhorst Aston Martin. At the Döttinger Höhe, Klingmann took advantage of the situation and passed.
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Nothing was decided yet. Falken Motorsports stayed right behind the Schubert BMW and kept Klingmann under pressure until the end. Lapped cars repeatedly separated the two leaders or brought them back together. Multiple times, BMW and Porsche were right next to each other in the last laps.
Klingmann finally victorious
“I already had a small gap and thought that would be enough,” Klingmann described the final lap. Then a slower vehicle appeared in front of him again. “I was always watching when I would hit him,” explained the BMW factory driver, who wanted to prevent an attack from Schuring at all costs.
Klingmann ultimately brought the lead to the finish. He recalled a similarly close defeat at NLS 6. “There I had lost by two tenths. So today we won. Now it’s evened out,” said the Schubert driver.
For Klingmann, the success was also a return to the top step of the NLS podium after a long break. He had already celebrated his first victory at his debut with the BMW Z4 GT3. “I know the statistics are on my side because the debut was already positive,” he said.
Max Kruse Racing on the overall podium and class winner
Behind Schubert Motorsport and Falken Motorsports, Max Kruse Racing’s strategy paid off. After the last short pit stop, number 75 returned in third place. Marcel Fugel, Dominik Fugel, and Benjamin Leuchter then defended the podium until the finish.
For Max Kruse Racing, third overall also meant victory in the AT1 class for vehicles with alternative fuels. Despite the near accident in the first half of the race and the temporary setback, the Audi had made a remarkable comeback.
Winward Racing finished fourth overall with Fabian Schiller and Jay Mo Härtling in the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Behind them, 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON with Patrick Assenheimer, Tobias Müller, and Dylan Pereira completed the top 5 and secured the win in SP9 Pro-Am.
In SP9 Am, BLACK FALCON Team EAE prevailed. Daan Arrow, Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, and Mike Stursberg won with the Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting number 5 despite the early spin ahead of the Porsche from Team Joos Sportwagentechnik.
The 9th round of the NLS 2026 follows tomorrow. For some participants, a busy night awaits to be able to start again tomorrow. Qualifying starts at 8:30 a.m., and the race will start punctually at 12 p.m. The livestream is available here.
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