I am perplexed. Perplexed, I tell you. I have no idea what the deal is with this new Nurburgring Endurance Championship that was foisted upon the competitors for the original and solidified Nurburgring Langstrecken Series, at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Of course, four months ago, in early January, just at the beginning of 2024, where the NLS teams and marshals decided to stick together, and despite the Koblenz ruling, the new Nurburgring Endurance Series, they are truly getting the short end of the stick on this one as they have not even hosted a race on the Nurburgring Nordschleife yet. For reference, here is the January article.
Teams, Marshals Side With NLS in Nordschleife Dispute
Yet, the newly formed Nurburgring Endurance Series still believes they can hold races at the Nurburgring through all of this, but alas, they only get a handful of entries for their whole weekend of racing and... surprise, surprise, the series has to call off the race due to lack of participation and lack of interest from nearly everyone. Marshals, who remain loyal to the Nurburgring Langstrecken Series, withdrew, walked out. During the test session, these marshals turned in their resignation letters at lunchtime. Thanks. I'll have a sausage and a beer... and oh by the way, I submit my resignation. Auf wiedersehen, I'm gone. So long, adieu, arriva derci, gesundheit, farewell. Unlike the NLS with their tired and true formula of 4-hour enduro races, the NES was about to undertake a pair of 90-minute sprints, using not the Nordschleife track, but the more modern Grand Prix circuit at the Nurburgring which was built 40 years ago, in 1984, as what was at the time, a replacement for the Nordschleife, but which, parts of the circuit have also been integrated into the Nordschleife layout since.
NES managing director Ralph-Gerald Schlueter, has expressed his disappointment with these developments. He is right, because the teams, drivers etc. will now not be able to race when they were hoping to, and they were prepared to start what could be seen as a successful event and maybe the birth of a new championship. That being said, the field of entries, was very small, hence the idea of using the Grand Prix track. 15 cars were to be entered, half a dozen of which were GT3 spec cars, or SP9 in Nurburgring specification parlance.
67% of the GT3 field would have consisted of Walkenhorst Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage GT3's, with the other 33% of top tier class entrants being Porsche's, 911 GT3R's. Those Porsche's would have come into the fold via entries from Dinamic GT and Herberth Motorsport. Well, this is a definite setback and certainly takes the wind out of the NES's sails, letting the air out of their proverbial celebratory balloons. Cue the sad trombone musical notes. Entering only 15 automobiles for a 4-hour races seems pointless. Thinking of an IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge grid, here stateside, with two 4-hour races on their schedule, they tend to get 30-40 cars plus. The NLS, the championship that has been racing at the Nurburgring since the '70s, routinely they get 100+ cars even for a shorter race of four hours,
So, how are you (referring to the NES organizers), going to have a viable, serious championship, when only a handful of teams show up to compete? This is why it is very hard, looking at the efforts of the staff of the championship to encourage participation, and then having the teams say, no, to take the whole endeavor seriously and without doing so alongside a massive pinch of salt. If there aren't players or officials, how can a game be played? If no teams or drivers show up, how can a motor race be contested? As the Nurburgring lays dormant this weekend and the Adenauer Forest is quiet, I wonder if many people will regret their decisions. I wonder if something may happen that could spark life into this new endeavor.
Only time will tell. Right now, it seems to be a real lottery.
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