Luca Stolz and Ralf Aron won NLS7 at the Nürburgring, running the #80 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 from pole to the flag in the 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen. The Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol team returned to the Nürburgring for the first time since its victory earlier this year at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, and took the win by 39.480 seconds after six hours on the Nordschleife.
Cool heads from a nervous start
It began with pole, but not with settled nerves. Aron set the mark earlier in the day with a 7m51.506sec – his return to the cockpit after a crash at the Bathurst 12 Hour left him sidelined for months.
“The team did a perfect job,” Stolz told GT REPORT. “In qualifying we were a bit nervous, because we were a bit far back in the beginning, but we just kept cool heads.”
That track position proved the foundation of the win. “For sure it was the starting position. We did a really good quali, and after that we just kept the lead,” Stolz explained.
Rivals cleared early
Two of the front-runners took themselves out of contention early. The #20 ERA Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Kyle Tilley, Adam Christodoulou and Jake Hill, quick on the team’s Nürburgring debut, came together with the #64 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3 of Vincent Kolb and Frank Stippler on the Grand Prix circuit. Stippler slowed sharply and Christodoulou could not avoid the contact. The Ford lost a long spell in the pits and recovered to ninth; the Mercedes-AMG later retired.
The BMW never got on terms
That left the #77 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 as the main threat. Jens Klingmann, Ugo de Wilde and Tim Tramnitz started eighth and worked their way forward, but never got on terms. Stolz pointed to a race broken up by frequent Code 60 zones. “The BMW was a similar pace to us but started quite far back, so it always takes long,” he said.
The #77 BMW finished second, ahead of the #48 Losch Motorsport by Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Assenheimer, Tobias Müller and Dylan Pereira, which won SP9 Pro-Am.
Aron back on track
For Ralf Aron, the win capped a long road back. The Estonian had not raced since a heavy crash at the Bathurst 12 Hour in February, and this was his first event since.
The Nordschleife asks more of a driver’s body than most circuits, but Aron reported no lingering effects after his stints. “I had absolutely no issues at all,” he told GT REPORT earlier in the weekend. “You caught me right after a full race stint and there were no issues.”
The result meant more given the two drivers’ shared history at Bathurst. “For him [Ralf Aron] it’s really special, because he had a really bad accident,” Stolz said. “And actually, at Bathurst, I was straight behind him. To be honest, I felt for him.
“It’s cool to have him back on track, and it’s nice to see that he’s performing at the highest level in GT racing.”
Top 10 results
- #80 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 – Stolz / Aron
- #77 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 – Klingmann / de Wilde / Tramnitz
- #48 Losch Motorsport by Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 R – Assenheimer / Müller / Pereira
- #4 Goroyan RT by Car Collection Porsche 911 GT3 R – Goroyan / Fontana / Menzel
- #1 FK Performance Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 – Fourie / Harper / Lefterov / Oosten
- #123 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R – Rump / Bünnagel / Nagelsdiek
- #786 Renazzo Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 – Nana / Breuer / Mutsch
- #5 Black Falcon Team EAE Porsche 911 GT3 R – Kaya / Piana / Stursberg
- #64 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang GT3 – Kolb / Stippler
- #992 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – Griesemann / Griesemann / Holzer
September double-header
The Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie returns on the weekend of 12–13 September with back-to-back four-hour races. NLS8, the 65. ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen, runs on Saturday 12 September, followed by NLS9, the 66. ADAC ACAS Cup, on Sunday 13 September.
