Three Porsches Earn Top-10 at Nürburgring Classic

Porsche customer outfit Lionspeed GP delivered the marque’s best overall result at this year’s 24 Hours of Nürburgring, bringing its Porsche 911 GT3 R home in sixth place amid treacherous weather conditions that defined the endurance classic. Despite persistent rain and temperatures hovering in the single digits, a record 352,000 spectators attended the Eifel event, where Porsche also marked 75 years of motorsport heritage with 60 customer entries in a field of roughly 160 cars.

At a glance

Factory drivers Heinrich, Feller and Vanthoor sixth in Lionspeed GP Porsche
Porsche customer teams competed in eleven class categories and won nine
A record crowd of 352,000 spectators at the Nürburgring Nordschleife

Race Results

P1. Engel/Stolz/Schiller/Martin (DEU/DEU/DEU/BEL), Mercedes #80, 156 Laps

P2. Engstler/Bortolotti/Niederhauser (DEU/ITA/CHE), Lamborghini #84, -2.12,311 minutes

P3. Krognes/Drudi/Thiim/Fernandez Laser (NOR/ITA/DEU/DEU), Aston Martin #34, -2.28,750 minutes

P6. Heinrich/Vanthoor/Feller (DEU/BEL/CHE), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Lionspeed GP #24, -7.50,750 minutes

P8. Buus/Christensen/Sturm/Hartog (DNK/DNK/DEU/NLD), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Dinamic GT #54, -1 lap

P10. (1. PRO-AM) Arrow/Assenheimer/T. Müller/Pereira (GBR/DEU/DEU/LUX), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Black Falcon #48, -2 laps

P11. (2. PRO-AM) Tilley/Hill/Kolb/Hofer (GBR/GBR/DEU/AUT), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Lionspeed GP #18, -3 laps

P12. (3. PRO-AM) Rump/Bünnagel/Brundle (EST/DEU/GBR), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Mühlner Motorsport #123, -3 laps

P13. (4.PRO-AM) Kim/Bruins/Cho/Seefried (KOR/NLD/KOR/DEU), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Hankook Competition #30, -5 laps

P14. (5. PRO-AM) Goroyan/Kivtka/Berthon/Fontana (ARM/KGZ/FRA/CHE), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Car Collection #4, -6 laps

P15. (6. PRO-AM) Li/Fjordbach/Ye/King (CHN/DNK/CHN/GBR), Porsche 911 GT3 R, High Class Racing #86, -6 laps

P21. (1. AM) Kaya/Kiefer/Piana/Stursberg (TUR/DEU/ITA/DEU), Porsche 911 GT3 R, Black Falcon #5, -9 laps

The race was contested over the 25.378-kilometre layout combining the Nürburgring Nordschleife and the original Grand Prix circuit. Unpredictable conditions during the opening half of the race created constantly changing grip levels, making tyre strategy especially challenging and contributing to numerous accidents and retirements.

Among Porsche’s customer teams, Lionspeed GP emerged as the strongest performer. Former Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich joined factory drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Ricardo Feller in overcoming a difficult build-up to the race that included incidents in both Qualifying 1 and the warm-up session. Starting from 24th on the grid, the trio stayed clear of major trouble during the race and steadily climbed the order to secure sixth place with a clean and composed performance.

Andreas Seidl – Team Principal LMP1

Dinamic GT also impressed with its No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Joel Sturm, Loek Hartog, and former Porsche Juniors Michael Christensen and Bastian Buus started 21st and similarly avoided major setbacks throughout the event, eventually claiming eighth overall.

Porsche teams also dominated the Pro-Am category, where professional drivers share the cockpit with amateur racers. Black Falcon claimed class victory with Patrick Assenheimer, Tobias Müller, Dylan Pereira, and Daan Arrow, finishing an impressive 10th overall. In the Am class for all-amateur crews, Black Falcon secured another win with drivers Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Gabriele Piana, Mike Stursberg, and Thomas Kiefer. Overall, Porsche customer teams competed across 11 classifications and won nine of them.

“The conditions were extremely difficult. Things were particularly hectic in the first six hours, and it felt as though we were driving a full sprint race,” said Maximilian Müller, GT Race Support at Porsche Motorsport. “In the battle for the overall classification, we didn’t quite make it this year due to a few retirements, but we were also lacking a bit of pace to compete at the very front. We’re working on that now so that we’re better prepared for the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of June. Congratulations to our customer teams, who won their respective classes or achieved good results – we’re very pleased about that.”

Several high-profile Porsche entries failed to reach the finish. Manthey’s fan-favourite “Grello” entry retired just before the four-hour mark after hitting an oil spill while running second with works drivers Kévin Estre, Thomas Preining, and Ayhancan Güven aboard. The Falken Motorsports and Dunlop Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R entries were both forced out before halfway following separate collisions while running inside the top 10. Dinamic GT’s No. 55 car was also eliminated after a late-race spin with just over 20 minutes remaining while holding 12th place.