Ford win NLS 8 as Falken Porsche crashes from the lead late on
- Aaron Carroll
- Sep 14
- 5 min read
The No.6 Haupt Racing Ford Mustang of Frank Stippler and Vincent Kolb has won NLS 7 after Julien Andlauer crashed from the lead in the No.3 Falken Motorsports Porsche with just 15 minutes to go.
The eighth race in the all Nürburgring series - NLS - got underway at 12:00 local time today. While it was Falken Motorsport that dominated yesterdays race, it was Alex Fontana in the No.44 Car Collection Porsche that took the pole in qualifying earlier in the morning.
With headlines yesterday dominated by four-time Formula One champion Max Verstappen's outing in a de-tuned Porsche Cayman GT4, that was only for the Saturday race. The Flying Dutchman secured his A permit yesterday, ready for a GT3 entry in two weeks time.
On the formation lap, the No.8 JUTA Racing Audi had a short spin trying to warm up its tyres, but there was no collision or major issues.
So when the green flag waved for start group one, the No.44 took the start with the No.48 Black Falcon car alongside. They took the No.3 and No.4 Falken cars in tow.
Fontana got away well, as did the Falken cars, but it was a horrible start for the Black Falcon No.48 who plummeted down the order. Frank Stippler, who started at the bottom of the top 10 in the No.6 Ford was up to fourth by the time they got out of turn 1.
At the back of SP9, the No.786 Lamborghini found itself in the gravel in the first couple of corners. That meant there were yellow flags out for the start of start groups two and three. The bright yellow Lambo was quickly retrieved from the gravel trap at turn 1, but seemingly couldn't get going on its own steam.
The track was damp off-line in places, with Fontana finding that out the hard way. His Porsche clipped the grass, allowing the Falken cars through. Later on the Döttinger straight, the Ford was able to use its immense straight line speed to zoom by before the end of the straight.
The No.34 Aston Martin tried to make a move into turn 1, but found the code 60 still out for the Lamborghini and had to stick behind.
The No.941 Cup 3 Porsche found itself facing the wrong way on the Grand Prix loop, after a tight battle with a group of cars in its class. There was no major damage though and the car got going once again.
Back at the front, the Falken cars were pulling away from the pack behind, the No.3 just inches ahead of the No.4 as they wove their way through traffic. When the two came to the Karussell, there was a GT4 Porsche stuck facing the wrong way on the inside. The ensuing Code 60 would be long, as the car was stuck in a very awkward positions for the martials to access.
The Porsche Cup 2 battle from yesterdays race continued into today, the No.921 and the No.948 were once again nose to tail for the lead in the class. The sister to the No.921, the No.904 got involved too and made it a Mühlner Motorsport 1-2 in class.
The No.4 car took the overall lead of the race from the No.3. Tim Heinemann got the jump on Joel Sturm at the end of a Code 60, moving up to first place.
The No.34 Aston Martin was the first pit caller at the end of lap five, the same strategy that saw the No.3 win the race yesterday. They were the only SP9 in the pits, taking tyres, fuel and a new driver.
The No.3 came into the pits on the next lap, as the sister car set the fastest lap of the race. The No.6 Ford followed the Porsche in too. The No.4 pit on the next lap around too. When they all emerged out, the No.3 led the way with a small gap to the battling No.4 and No.6.
Stippler used all the power of his Ford V8 to get by the Porsche on the straight and take second place. After another lap and a bit of battling, Heinemann in the Porsche went to the outside of the Ford at the beginning of the Nordschlife, hanging it out around traffic to get back second. But the Ford once again got by on the straight.
The No.959 Porsche Cup 3 car found itself on its roof after a collision, however the driver seemed to be okay. Driver Harley Haughton went for a check in the medical centre, but came out with no injuries.
With just under two and a half hours to go, the No.4 Porsche slowed halfway around the Nordschlife. It looked to be a left-rear puncture for Heinemann, absolutely ruining their day. They brought the car in and got a new tyre on, as well as getting Benjamin Leuchter behind the wheel.
With exactly two hours remaining, both the No.3 Porsche and the No.6 Ford came into the pits for their scheduled stops. Julien Andlauer took over the Porsche, while Stippler made way for Vincent Kolb. The third placed No.44 followed them in too.
On the way into the pits the No.3 had a puncture, so they lost the lead on their in lap, but were due to stop anyway. Out of the pits, Andlauer quickly caught up to Kolb, and was all over the back of the Mustang on the Nordschlife.
The Frenchman made quick work of the Mustang and immediately began to grow the gap out. Meanwhile behind them the No.4 was back in third place after its puncture, but they were off sequence on their pit strategy.
The No.3 driver was multiple seconds quicker than Kolb, the gap out to 15 seconds after 18 laps. However, the No.4 was quicker than both of them, and catching the Ford quickly.
With an hour and 10 minutes left to go the No.4 Porsche was in the pits. Leuchter at the wheel of that machine had a tall task ahead of him to get the car to the end without another stop.
In Cup 2 the No.921 was leading by over 30 seconds with an hour remaining from the No.948. Their chances at victory would increase too, because the car in second got a long lap penalty for a pit stop infringement.
Both the No.3 and the No.6 came in for their stops just before the 45 minutes to go mark, with Kolb in the Ford closing up to the Porsche slightly.
The No.21 Ferrari of Klaus Abbelen found itself in the wall. Abbelen in his final SP9 race seemed to have lost the ability to downshift, and struggled to get the car back in gear to rejoin as well. He did eventually get going again, but slowly crept back to the pits. When he did get back in though, it was helmet off and the end of the race.
With just 17 minutes to go the No.3 leading Porsche was in the wall. Andlauer had his head in his hands with emotions running high in the car. He clipped the grass on the outside at high speed and hit the wall hard, sending him and the No.3 crew out of the race. That put the No.6 Ford in prime position to win the race.
The No.4 car ended up having to pit too, a splash of fuel needed to get that car to the end. They remerged from the pits still in second place.
So Kolb brought the No.6 across the line to win, with the No.4 car coming home second over two minutes behind. The No.48 was third, with Stippler completing the final stint in the No.8 Audi, meaning he finished both first and fourth in the race. The No.34 Aston Martin rounded out the top five.
The first win for Ford in the NLS since 2015, a decade ago.
In sixth overall was the Porsche Cup 2 winner, the No.948, which won out after another close fight with the No.921.
The NLS returns on the 27th of September for NLS 9, another four hour race and the penultimate round of the season.
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