Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) organiser VLN has confirmed its 2022 NLS dates. The Nordschleife championship returns to a ‘normal’ late March through late October schedule, but with one race fewer to combine the doubleheader into a 12-hour race.

The season opens on 26 March with NLS1, followed on 9 April with the second race of the season and the third on 23 April. After a two-month break two make way for the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring (26-29 May), the series returns on 25 June for NLS4. On 9 July the traditional 6-hour race takes place, before introducing a new 12-hour race on 10-11 September.

Although new in name and set-up, the 12-hour race is in practice a combination of the doubleheader which has been held since 2020, adding two hours each to the races held on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday should see the cars race into dusk before the race is frozen until Sunday.

NLS7 (8 October) is then held over the regular distance of 4 hours, before the season wraps up on 22 October – the first finale held in late October since 2019 after the second half of 2020 was cancelled and 2021 saw VLN move up the final date to early October to avoid a possible cancellation due to rising COVID-19 infection rates.

Should any of the first three races of the season be cancelled due to weather conditions, 5 November has been appointed as a reserve date.

A VLN-organised test day is held on Friday before each round, with the first three test days held on the full VLN layout of the track for both the morning and afternoon, while the remaining rounds see the Grand Prix course used for the morning and full track for the afternoon.

The pre-season test will be held from Friday 18 March through Sunday 20 March with the latter two days held on the full NLS course.

2022 VLN Nürburgring Endurance Series calendar

18-20 March / Pre-season test
26 March / NLS1
9 April / NLS2
23 April / NLS3
25 June / NLS4
9 July / NLS5 (6-hour race)
10-11 September / NLS6 (12-hour race)
8 October / NLS7
22 October / NLS8

 
 

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