The 2026 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) has already kicked off, and there’s nothing more exciting for commentator and ‘Stimme des Nürburgrings’ Olli Martini. The Adenauer sat down with GT REPORT to look ahead to what the Nordschleife season will bring and tells more about the magic of The Green Hell.

The first race of the NLS was unfortunately cancelled because of the weather. It was cold and snowy on some parts of the track, leading to the tyre manufacturers warning the teams of extreme conditions. “It was a shame, because we had ten to fourteen days of perfect weather beforehand,” Martini says – who is also the son of the legendary Willi Martini.

“It was only this single day where we had these bad conditions, but we had to cancel the race.” Some people didn’t agree with that decision – although those comments came from a place of misunderstanding. “Safety has to be on top of everything, and the tyre companies said: we cannot let you race,” he says.

Luckily, the sun was shining during NLS2 and the weather looks good for NLS3 too. “Everybody is really happy the season started, and I think it will be a great one,” Martini continues, who also looks forward to the N24 Qualifiers and to be a commentator during the N24 again.

“We have the HWA cars, the BMW touring car, KTM coming back, and so on. In this difficult situation, with the economy and so on, it’s really great to see what’s going on here at the Nürburgring. We got so much feedback from all over the world, so many new teams coming, from USA, from Asia.”

There is simply no place like the Nürburgring

The Nordschleife has always been a special place for pure motorsport fans. Martini, who has gasoline running through his veins as well, knows no different. His father, Willi, was a racing driver, and so was his brother, Michael Martini. Both became Nürburgring legends throughout the years.

Martini is commentating all NLS races at The Ring since 2010, but no season is like the other. How does the Nürburgring stay magical each year? “It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Martini says. “First of all, the wonderful landscape we have here. I’m in the luckiest situation to be living here since I was born, 55 years ago.”

“Also, to have this multi-class racing, to have professional racing drivers here, like Frank Stippler, Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and so on. They are all really friendly and respectful to everyone around, signing things and taking selfies.”

The NLS grid is usually packed with more than a hundred cars, with a lot of different classes. Unique cars and drivers will be found behind the SP9 class too. “On the other hand we have the so-called private drivers, the ‘smaller’ ones. For example, the guy who fixes my heating system at home, he’s also driving here with a small BMW!”

Rennen im Rennen

The private drivers who are not backed by big teams or sponsors have to do everything that it takes to get good results and to move forward in the motorsport world. “It’s a combination of professional race drivers and private drivers who have to spend a lot of money to do this race,” Martini points out.

“What I really love during commentating, is the ‘Rennen im Rennen’, the race inside the race. Sometimes there’s a thirty-second gap in the GT3 class, and then we switch to another class. In the control center they notify us: in VT2 class there is a big fight. He will call the helicopter to fly over there.”

Martini and his colleague will get a hint when the camera is focussing on the fight further in the back of the field, so they can commentate on that. In those classes, everything is at stake – making the fights exciting.

‘It’s part of my life’

The commentator from Adenau is obviously well integrated in the paddock and knows basically everyone, and vice versa. “Sometimes I will go down the pitlane and back, just once. I think I need two or three hours for it,” he laughs.

“Everybody has some information to tell, not only about the race, sometimes private topics and so on. That’s also what makes this series so comfortable, so interesting. For me, it’s a part of my life. I’ve been following the VLN since the beginning, in the 70s.”

“I was seven years old, and I remember things from 1978, 1979 and so on. My father had his own, very successful team here, my brother was a driver for many years. I’ve been following the series for almost fifty years now. Every race is special for me.”