Falken Motorsports take another 1-2 in NLS 7, Verstappen 26th overall, 7th in class

Credit: Luna Maas

The Falken Motorsports No.3 Porsche of Julien Andlauer and Joel Sturm has taken a dominant victory in the first of two NLS races this weekend. The sister No.4 was in second with the No.48 Black Falcon car completing the top three. Max Verstappen came just short of completing the requirements for his license, but now has the choice of coming back and giving it another go for NLS 8 tomorrow.

When the cars left for the formation lap, it was Julien Andlauer in the No.3 Falken Motorsports Porsche that had taken pole position, but all eyes were on a specific car in the Cup3 class. Four time Formula One world champion Max Verstappen was apart of the No.980 entry, in an attempt to get his permit so he can race GT3 cars.

Due to his lack of experience on the track, his car would have less power and more weight that his class competitors. He was also listed as apart of the No.89 SP7 entry, to allow him to get the driving time and two race finishes that he needs for his license.

Back at the front though, Andlauer got away well and held the lead heading onto the Nordschlife in the No.3. Frank Stippler in the No.6 Ford Mustang had a good getaway, immediately getting up to second place. The car that started second, the No.48 Black Falcon Porsche had a bad start going down to fourth, behind the No.4 Falken too.

When start group too came by, Verstappens car dropped down the order like a stone, due to being down on power to all of the other cars around them. It's important to note though, they weren't racing for a result, they were racing to get the Red Bull driver his license.

Coming onto the second lap, Stippler had a look down the inside of Andlauer for the lead, but wasn't quite close enough. Later on in the lap the two were absolutely nose to tail weaving through traffic, with the No.4 Porsche not too far behind them.

Credit: Luna Maas

The Ford had another look into turn 1 on the next lap, getting fully alongside on the outside this time, but Stippler still couldn't quite get a nose in front. Through traffic, the Mustang lost time and fell into the clutches of the third placed Porsche, who very nearly got through.

Meanwhile the No.34 Aston Martin got a penalty lap for contact with the No.44 Porsche.

Over the next three laps the battles ebbed and flowed through traffic between the two Falken cars and the Ford, but soon the No.48 joined the battle for second, with the leader only a handful of seconds up the road.

The No.4 Porsche was the first of the leaders to call into the pits with three hours and 10 minutes left, much earlier than expected. Meanwhile the No.48 Porsche went for the move on Stippler in the Ford, Tobias Müller getting up to second place. An aggressive move from the Porsche driver to get up to second.

The next time around the No.3 Porsche came in too, along with the No.6 and the No.48. When they came back out, the No.3 led, but this time his teammate was in second. The No.48 was in third, and the Ford never emerged from the pits, with a clutch problem when restarting the car.

There was a rear-left issue for the No.160 Toyota Supra GT4, but they limped back to the pits and the team got to repairs. The No.44 Car Collection Porsche worked its way into third, with the No.34 Aston Martin making a move on the No.48 Porsche for fourth too.

Credit: Luna Maas

The No.919 Porsche Cup 2 car was off the road and facing the wrong way in the first part of the Grand Prix loop, seemingly with damage. The driver limped back to the pits, but the front was very badly damaged.

With exactly two hours remaining, the No.4 Falken came into the pits for its second stop. It would likely pit a lap earlier than the sister car for the rest of the race due to its offset strategy from stint one.

Soon after it began raining at points on the circuit. That's another interesting quirk about the Nordschlife, it can be raining heavily on one part of the circuit, but the teams will stay on dries, because the rest of the track is bone dry.

With an hour and 45 minutes remaining, Verstappen brought the No.980 into the pits and handed over the car to Chris Lulham.

Joel Sturm took over the lead car, while Tim Heinemann got back in the second placed car. The lead gap was about 40 seconds, and the two were multiple minutes ahead of the next cars.

In fourth and fifth overall were the leaders in the Porsche Cup 2 class, the No.921 and No.948 nose to tail the entire way around the lap treating the fans to an amazing battle.

Credit: Luna Maas

The rain at the back end of the Nordschlife had subsided, but it came back much heavier than before. The leader found this out the hard way, having a brief off in the wettest part of the circuit on slicks.

The heavy rain soon engulfed most of the circuit, so drivers had to show off all of their skill to keep the cars on the road. Despite this, neither of the Falken cars came in for wet tyres.

The Porsche Cup battle turned into a battle for an overall podium, with the No.948 taking the lead and building a gap through the initial heavy rain section.

A large chunk of the field came into the pits for wets, including Verstappen's No.980, now driven by Lulham. Meanwhile the No.8 Audi SP9 was limping back to the pits with significant front end damage. The driver 'SELV' got it back into the pits, but it looked like there might be a lot of repairs to do.

The two Falken cars that stayed out on slicks were crawling through the wet parts, with lower class cars flying past them on wets. Both of them came into the pits on the next time of asking, taking tyres and fuel.

As we went into the final hour the Porsche Cup battle heated up again in the wet conditions. The rain had stopped for the most part, but the track was still very wet in places.

With 45 minutes to go, the gap for the lead was almost two full minutes, with the No.3 still in the lead. Then came the No.4, who was about 40 seconds ahead of the No.48.

Through some good strategy when changing to slicks, the No.48 was catching the two leaders. When the No.4 pit again the Black Falcon jumped into second, but Heinemann behind was absolutely charging at him with 20 minutes to go.

Stursberg in the No.48 soon had to pit himself, so he fell back into third and the finishing order began to take shape.

The No.3 Porsche was the first across the line, sealing a 1-2 for Falken Motorsports. The No.48 completed the all Porsche podium. In the Cup 2 battle the No.948 won out, by over 20 seconds in the end.

The No.980 Verstappen Lulham car finished 27th overall and seventh in class, with the Dutchman not quite meeting the license requirements, but he may come back tomorrow to try and get his permit so he can race SP9 in two weeks time.

NLS 8 gets underway at 11am BST tomorrow.