DUNLOP Motorsport win for the first on the Nordschleife, by three tenths
- Benjamin Crundwell
- 15 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The No.17 Dunlop Motorsport Porsche won the sixth round of the NLS season. This is Porsche's first win in 2026, and Dunlop's first win ever. The tyre manufacturer did not have it easy, as the No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW chased them to the line, finishing three tenths behind.
Having topped the tables in qualifying, Christian Krognes led the field away at 12:00 with the No.35 Aston Martin. The Walkenhorst manned car retained the lead, while a battle broke out for the positions behind.
The No.26 PROsport Mercedes of Adam Christodoulou stole second place from Kamui Kobayashi's No.47 KCMG Mercedes, just after taking third from the No.44 Falken Motorsport Porsche. Behind, Robin Frijns got his elbows out, going door to pit wall at the start and then door to door with the No.17 Dunlop car on the back straight of the Grand Prix loop.
By the first run down the Döttinger Höhe, the No.35 and No.26 had pulled away from the rest. The No.44 of Klaus Bachler took third place from the No.47, but all eyes were on the fight behind, for fifth. The No.23 Gamota Racing BMW was caught three wide in a Porsche sandwich. The No.17 was on the left hand side, and overtook both cars, while the the No.48 48 Losch Motorsport Porsche went onto the grass on the right hand side of Antoniusbuche, lucky not to have a big crash.
A lap later the No.17 tried to overtake the next car on the road, the No.47, but the No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW of Frijns stuck two wheels on the grass and mugged them both of their positions. Meanwhile, the No.44 Falken Porsche had already caught the leaders. It didn't take long for the No.23 and No.77 to join the fight for the lead, as a yellow flag in the Fuchsröhre bought the top five together.
The No.23 Gamota BMW's race started to fall apart on lap four, when it was overtaken by the No.77, then hit the No.471 Cupra Leon back marker a few corners later, earning a drive through penalty. The No.6 Audi was caught out by gravel thrown on track during the incident, and spun, narrowly avoiding the already stricken Cupra.
Two laps later the No.6 spun at the same corner again, and two hours later, the No.23 BMW picked up an extra stop-go penalty for breaching the minimum pit time by 18 seconds. Both cars had a day to forget. Another car having a bad day was another of the early contenders, the No.47 KCMG Mercedes, which lost five minutes when Kamui Kobayashi found the crash barrier during his stint.
At the end of lap six, the No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW and No.17 Dunlop Porsche were the first cars to pit, a lap before the No.44 Falken Porsche, who was their main rivals at this point of the race. The No.77 and No.17 benefited from shorter minimum pit times (due to NLS refuelling regulations) to take the lead for the second stint.
After the first stop, the field quietened a bit as gaps formed across the field, but the fight continued between the No.77 and No.17 for the lead of the race, while the No.44 fought to catch as much time as possible on them, to improve its chances later in the race when the two ahead would have to take a longer stop to make up for their shorter first stop.
The No.77 started the stint ahead of the No.17, and did pull away briefly, but Sven Müller reeled Frijns back in and overtook him just before their second of three stops. After the driver changes (Jens Klingmann took over the No.77 and Nico Menzel took the No.17's wheel), the No.17 started to open the gap to over 20 seconds at one point.
Tim Heinemann was in the No.44 Falken Porsche by then, and was catching them both, three quarters of a minute back. Unfortunately for Falken Motorsports, their Porsche had to pull off the track at Adenauer Forst. It was unclear what caused the issue, but it is suspected a BMW cup car hit the Porsche on the entry to a double yellow zone.
Freed from the pressure of potentially getting caught by the No.44 in the final stint, the No.17 Dunlop car pit on the same lap, and maintained its lead. There was more drama, but this time in the Cup 3 car. The No.959 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport Porsche hit the wall when there was only 25 minutes left, from the lead.
The No.962 W&S Losch Motorsport inherited the lead of Cup 3, and won the class by a couple of minutes. The Cup 2 class (similar to the Cup 3, but using a GT3 Porsche cup car rather than a GT4 Porsche) was won by the No.904 Mühlner Motorsport car, also by a couple of minutes.
The overall order was won by the No.17 Dunlop Porsche, as Sven Müller bought the car home to secure his and Nico Menzel's first win of the year. This is also Porsche's first NLS win in 2026, having won eight rounds in 2025. Additionally, this was Dunlop's first victory ever in the NLS, as they made their debut at the beginning of the year.
Müller leading most the second half of the race does not tell how close it was at the end. In the final two laps Klingmann caught the Porsche, and ended up finishing the race three tenths back from Müller. The No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW just missed out on a second victory of the year and had to settle for second place.
The No.48 48 Losch Motorsport Porsche finished in third place, which also won the SP9 Pro-Am category. The No.26 PROsport Mercedes finished fourth, and the top five was rounded out by the pole sitter, the No.35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin.
The final piece of drama came to the No.5 SP9 Am car, which was leading the AM category until the penultimate lap. It went deep on the Grand Prix loop, and hit the barrier, handing a hard fought victory over to the No.786 Renazzo Motorsport Lamborghini.
Final order
1st No.17 Dunlop Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R
2nd No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo
3rd No.48 48 Losch Motorsport by Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 R
4th No.26 PROsport Mercedes-AMG GT3
5th No.35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo
