Nürburgring 24h: Preview

Benjamin Crundwell
9 hours ago
3 min read

Written by Benjamin Crundwell, Edited by Aaron Carroll

The middle of the three 24-hour races in June 2025 will take place surrounded by the beech trees of the Eifel Forest, around the most feared race track on the planet: the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Competitive action kicks off on Thursday, with Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2 at 11:00 and 18:00 GMT respectively. Top Qualifying will take place at 11:20 GMT on Friday, ahead of the final qualifying session, Qualifying 3 at 14:15.

After a warm-up at 10:00 on Saturday, the race will begin at 14:00 GMT (16:00 local time). It is recommended you tune in before this however as the warmup lap starts 20 minutes before the official start time, so the time the race actually begins could vary slightly.

Sunset will take place during the transition from hours four to five. The night will last until hour 13, leaving another 11 hours of sunlight to the chequered flag.

In very un-Nürburgring style, the weather is due to be sunny throughout. The temperature will reach highs of 27 degrees celsius on both days, perfect conditions for the drivers to push their cars to the absolute limit. It’s worth noting however that rain can not be discounted, as the weather is constantly changing in the Eifel forest.

Last year, the race was red flagged overnight due to heavy fog. The race directors made regular checks to the track, but about 12 hours after the red flag came out, they announced the race would not continue. The forecast weather should ensure there will not be a repeat of events this year.

The top class this weekend will be the SP9 class. This class consists of all GT3 cars, the same that race in series such as the GTWC, DTM and the LMGT3 class in WEC. 27 GT3s will race in the SP9 class, just a small portion of the 141 car grid.

The car to beat this weekend will be the Porsche 911 GT3 R. The German marque has won every round of the NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) so far this season, including the two N24 qualifier rounds.

Scherer Sport PHX will return with a two car lineup: the No.1 Audi which they won with last year, and the No.16 Porsche which won both rounds of the N24 qualifiers. Other Porsches to watch out for includes the No.911 “Grello” Manthey car, which Kevin Estre will star in, and the two Falken Motorsport cars - No.33 and No.44 - which have a win each in the NLS.

The Ford Mustang GT3 will make its Nürburgring 24h debut this weekend, with Haupt Racing Team (HRT) running three cars. Frank Stippler, who will drive the No.64 car, has said that this race will be more of a practice race for the American marque.

Unfortunately only one BMW M4 GT3 will enter the race, due to other commitments over the weekend. Ferrari will also only enter one car, but Lamborghini and Mercedes will each enter three cars.

Fan favourites, the No.150 BMW M4 GT4 will be driven by Jimmy Broadbent, Steve Brown (AKA SuperGT), Misha Charoudin and Manuel Metzger. The “YouTube car” will be raced in the SP8T class, which has seen an increase in competition since last year.

In last year's race, the BMW, driven by the YouTube stars, finished second place in class, although a driver down as Steve Brown’s license was suspended after he carried too much speed through a code 60.

In the NLS this season, the No.150 is on a run of second place finishes despite having won the first race, as the No.187 FK Performance car has won every race since the opening round.

Overall, it was the No.16 Scherer Sport Audi which won last year's shortened race, at the hands of Franck Stippler, Christopher Mies, Ricardo Feller and Dennis Marschall. This year, Scherer Sport will enter an Audi with the hard earned No.1.

The driver lineup has been changed completely this year however as Christopher Haase, Luca Ludwig and Markus Winkelhock will get behind the wheel.

The race will take place on the 28.3km Gesamstrecke, which is a combination of the GP track and Nordschleife. It can be streamed from YouTube for free from the race start on Saturday to the chequered flag on Sunday.