Written by Aaron Carroll and Benjamin Crundwell
This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team will be taking a look back at the opening round of the NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) championship, and all of the breaking news stories from the past week.
NLS 1 Review - Full race report
Falken Motorsports took a 1-2 victory on the Nürburgring at the weekend, with the No.3 car of Morris Schuring and Sven Müller taking the win ahead of the sister No.4 machine piloted by Dorian Boccolacci and Nico Menzel. Both cars fought through the field as they came alive when the track dried after a damp start to the four-hour race.
Those two led home a Porsche 1-2-3-4, with the No.911 Manthey EMA car in third, and the No.56 Dinamic GT in fourth, both of whom fought through together and against the pair of Falken cars. Rounding out the top five was the sole SP9 (GT3) BMW from ROWE Racing, who had an uneventful race.
In SP8T, it was the fan favourite ‘Youtuber car’ of Jimmy Broadbent, Steve Brown, Misha Charoudin and Manuel Metzger who won in the No.150 Black Falcon BMW M4 GT4, after a dominant performance from the crew who led for most of the four hours.
Endurance racing at the Nürburgring continues on the 26th of April.
Breaking News
WEC (World Endurance Championship)
On Friday, WEC released a statement to address problems which fans experienced on the FIA WEC app during the QATAR 1812km. The series announced they would compensate for the issues by gifting fans who had bought a single-race deal free usage for the coming race in Imola. Season pass holders have the option to get a 15% discount on their 2026 membership or refer the discount to a friend to buy a pass for the remainder of 2025.
Elsewhere in the premier sportscar championship, the FIA and ACO have issued a tender for the powertrain of the new 2028 LMP2 regulations. Interested engine manufacturers can post their bids to supply the engines for all LMP2 cars that follow the new 2028 regulations.
The engines must be turbocharged, weigh no more than 160 kg (352 lbs) and have an output of 563 bhp (420 kW) which can be adjusted to 509 bhp (380 kW). The gearbox must be a six-speed sequential, with the noise of the exhaust system not exceeding 100 Db.
A similar chassis tender for the new LMP2 regulations is expected to follow, but it was made clear by the FIA that the powertrain manufacturers cannot also be the chassis manufacturers. A final decision on which manufacturer this will be, will be made on the 10th of June, just days before the Le Mans 24 Hours.
IMSA
Tommy Milner will join Robert Wickens in the DXDT Corvette GTD entry for the race at Long Beach. Wickens, who sustained a spinal cord injury during the 2018 Indycar race at Pocono, needs specially crafted hand controls in the car, which is being manufactured by Bosch.
Wickens completed a two-day test in Sebring, his first laps in the adapted Corvette and will be joined by Milner on April 12th for the race in Long Beach.
NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie)
Ahead of the NLS 1 event, many SP9 teams took the opportunity to announce their lineups for the Nürburgring 24 Hours:
Manthey EMA will run a Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) with a driver lineup consisting of reigning WEC champion Kevin Estre, 2023 DTM champion Thomas Preining and rising GT3 star Ayhancan Güven
Haupt Racing Team (HRT) will run a pair of Ford Mustang GT3’s with Nico Bastian, Arjun Maini, Dennis Olsen and Frank Stippler piloting the No.2 blue car. Whilst Dennis Fetzer, Jusuf Owega, David Schumacher and Dirk Müller will be at the helm of the yellow No.6.
ABT Racing have confirmed they will field two Lamborghinis at this year's N24, with drivers Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart, Luca Engstler, Marco Mapelli, Jordan Pepper, Franck Perera and Dani Juncadella. However, the team have not confirmed which drivers will be in which car.
ROWE Racing will field the only BMW M4 GT3 in this year's field after BMW announced cutbacks in their racing calendar due to the close proximity of the Le Mans 24 Hours, N24 and Spa 24 Hours. The No.98 will be driven by Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn, Raffaele Marciello and Kelvin van der Linde.
Dinamic GT will run a Porsche at the Eifel classic, with reigning WEC LMGT3 champion Joel Sturm, former N24 winner Matteo Cairoli, Loek Hatog and Bastian Buus.
Kondo Racing will field a single Ferrari 296 GT3 in this year's race, in an entry partnered with Rinaldi Racing. The blue Ferrari will see drivers Thomas Neubauer, David Perel, Axcil Jefferies and Felipe Fernandez Laser take to the wheel during the race in June.
Black Falcon will return to SP9 for the first time in four years with partner EAE in a Porsche PRO-AM entry, after two titles in the Porsche Cup 2 class. Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Gabriele Piana, Mike Stursberg, Ben Bünnagel and Daan Arrow will all take to the wheel during the 24-hour spectacle.
DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters)
BMW have announced a smaller lineup in DTM this season. Only Rene Rast and Marco Wittman will drive the M4 GT3 EVO’s for Schubert Motorsport. This lineup cuts out Sheldon van der Linde, who finished in sixth place last year, with a single win to his name. Van der Linde has raced in DTM every year since 2019, winning six races, and taking the championship in 2022. The South African will focus on racing the BMW M Hybrid V8 in WEC and IMSA this year.
Rast and Wittman are an experienced lineup, having five world championships and 47 wins between them. The pair will look to move up the standings this year, after finishing fourth and twelfth last year. Wittman said: ‘focusing on two cars certainly helps the team concentrate its efforts even more.’
GTWC EU (GT World Challenge Europe)
Tresor Attempto Audi have announced their three driver lineups for their trio of Bronze, Silver and Gold cup entries.
Andrey Mukovoz will be the full season entrant with the Bronze No.66 entry, with Max Hofer and Alexey Nesov joining for the endurance rounds and Dylan Pereira for the sprint round. All four drivers competed for Attempto racing in last year's Spa 24 Hours and took home the Bronze Cup win.
Alex Aka and Ezequiel Perez Companc will pilot the No.99 Silver entry for the Sprint Cup and will be joined by Alberto Di Folco for the endurance races.
The No.88 Gold Cup entry will have Leonadro Moncini and Sebastian Øgaard in for the Sprint Cup, with GTWC rookie Riccardo Cazzaniga joining the pair for the endurance rounds.
AlManar Racing by WRT have released the livery the No.777 M4 GT3 EVO will wear for the 2025 GTWC EU season. The car will be raced by Al Faisal Al Zubair and Jens Klingmann in the sprint series, joined by Ben Tuck for the endurance rounds.
ELMS (European Le Mans Series)
The ELMS will kick off at The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the 6th of April, ahead of a six-round season. A 44-car entry list has been announced for the season opener: 21 LMP2 cars will lead the field, followed by 10 LMP3 and 13 LMGT3 teams.
Previous champions AO by TF will be raced by Louis Delétraz, Duncan Cameron and PJ Hyett, who owns AO Racing. Runners-up, Inter Europol, have also replaced two of their drivers. Tom Dillmann will be joined by Jakub Smiechowski and Nicholas Yelloly.
In LMGT3, Iron Lynx have a fresh lineup, starring Martin Berry, Lorcan Hanafin and Faboan Schiller, the trio will look to push for wins and take a second consecutive championship for the Iron Lynx squad.
ALMS (Asian Le Mans Series)
Off the back of the previous season, ALMS have announced they will be racing on an unchanged calendar for the 2025/26 programme.
The series will start at Sepang in Malaysia for the first two races on the 12th-14th of December. They will then travel to the Dubai Autodrome for two more races at the end of January. The six-round season will end in Yas Marina from the 6th-8th February. ALMS will entertain petrol heads over the winter, while other series take a break.
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