Nico Menzel and Sven Müller started the sixth editon of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie from 8th place in their #17 DUNLOP Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R. After several yellow flags on track and taking every opportunity, but also every challenge that came with it, they fought their way back to first place. 

The race looked to be finished after 26 laps, but with just a few seconds still on the clock, an extra lap was needed when they crossed the line. Temperatures rose to around 30 degrees during the day, which made it anything but easy out there. 

During that final lap, a Code 60 on track at Adenauer Först caused the distance between Müller, who was behind the wheel at that time, and Jens Klingmann in his #17 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 to become smaller and smaller. But the Porsche driver stayed calm, with the BMW right behind him, and claimed the top spot. 

GT REPORT spoke to the race winners after the race. 

How nervous were you both with the last Code 60?

Nico Menzel 

I don’t know if Sven was more nervous than me, but in the pit garage I was super nervous, because all of a sudden on the rear camera I saw the BMW super close, and we know that his car is always strong on the straights. So there was definitely danger after being more or less safe for around two and a half hours. 

Sven Müller 

For me it was also super stressful. On the second last lap there was a pretty similar situation where I got stuck in traffic and lost about five seconds. You can’t predict that; it’s part of the game. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but I think today we deserved the win. So all good in the end. 

Was there any concerns around fuel with the extra lap? 

Sven Müller 

No. We knew that it could be tight, so you always take some extra margin with fuel because to stop in the last lap without fuel would be stupid. We are always on the safe side with this. 

How big was the impact of the yellow flags and the high temperature? 

Nico Menzel  

Oh, super high. It’s dictating the race at the end of the day because of how much you can attack and how you set up the car in super-hot conditions. Traffic management is key, as always at the Nürburgring, and there’s always a portion of luck you also need. Sometimes you hit the Code 60 and sometimes not. I think we’ve been lucky here and there, but also unlucky. In the end, I think we did a good job, the team did a good job, and we’re super proud to take home the first victory for Dunlop. 

Sven Müller 

For me it was also six or seven times Code 60 or 120. It was extreme; many accidents and mistakes by drivers because it was quite hot. Staying focused wasn’t easy for me either. I didn’t struggle in the car, but feeling the heat was crazy. I don’t have temperature measurements, but feeling-wise it was close to 45–50 degrees in the car. There is air conditioning in there, but you don’t use it because you want to be quick, so you need to push for two hours. It’s okay, Spa 24 Hours next week will be hot as well, so it was good preparation. 

Schnable Engineering, the team that runs both the Falken and Dunlop Motorsport entries, seem to have really found its pace at the Nordschleife, 2025 successes and possible 2026 success with Falken/Dunlop. Where does that pace come from? 

Nico Menzel 

We’ve had pace for the last two years; we’ve always been up there. The team preparation is great, and the cars are always very well prepared. Everyone in the team does a super precise and absolutely top-level job. Dunlop prepared a great tyre for us. We are constantly developing, obviously within the possibilities of Formula Homologation, but they’ve given us, for the last two years and now, a package to win. We’ve had quite some bad luck so far this year, but today it was finally payback. 

Sven Müller 

Exactly. Last year we won a few NLS races; this year we were unlucky, but we were in a position for a podium. But you need to, of course, finish the race. Today our tyres worked well, and we managed to put up a good setup, because these conditions were extreme and unusual. Normally you have much colder track conditions, but for this weekend we managed to work on our car and optimise our package. I’m happy that we extracted everything. A podium, a first time victory for Dunlop. It couldn’t be any better. 

NLS returns on August 1st, when the Porsche Dunlop drivers are aiming to defend their win.