Race-free time? In the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, a foreign word – and that’s exactly why the new season of the DNLS starts on December 6th. The virtual format of the traditional Nordschleife championship again includes four races in the 2025/2026 winter season, each over a distance of three hours. The Digitale Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie stands for the same values as its real counterpart: top-class multiclass racing on the most beautiful and demanding racetrack in the world. And because standing at the track in the winter months would really be too cold, the virtual spectacle from the Green Hell is available via livestream on your home screen – fans just need to provide snacks and hot drinks themselves to enjoy the races.
The DNLS has established itself as a fixed feature after six seasons – not only in the calendars of numerous teams and drivers from real motorsport, but also in the sim racing scene. The images that the world-leading racing simulation iRacing produces are spectacular, and there are camera perspectives that are hardly possible in reality. The elaborately produced livestream and commentary by NLS commentators set benchmarks in the virtual racing world.
For the drivers, sim racing is long more than just a pastime, and even Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, who debuted in the DNLS 23/24 and this year competed and won his first real race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, sees the simulation as a perfect complement to real racing. “Every kilometer is a racing kilometer, whether in reality on the Nordschleife or in the simulation,” says Nürburgring chief instructor Andreas Gülden, who is now at home in both worlds and will again compete in the DNLS winter season with Team Nürburgring eSports. “When I accompanied Max on the way to his DPN, we also talked about sim racing. You could tell how seriously he takes virtual driving.”
Drivers like Gülden play an important role in the DNLS, because in the GT3 class SP9 it is mandatory that at least one pilot from real racing participates. They usually share the cockpit with dedicated sim racing professionals and engage in exciting fights during the races. In the 2024/2025 season, drivers such as Mirko Bortolotti, Tim Heinemann, and Elias Seppänen were in action. Champion in SP9 was none other than Truck Racing European Champion Norbi Kiss.
In addition to the GT3 cars, the other classes also offer spectacular racing, above all Cup 2 of the Porsche Esports Endurance Trophy Nürburgring. In the last DNLS season, Raphael Rennhofer finished on top here – he competed in ADAC GT4 Germany in 2024. The Austrian piloted the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of SCHERER eSPORTS. There are also two further classes: SP10 with GT4 cars from Aston Martin, BMW, and Mercedes-AMG, as well as SP3T with Renault Clio.
The season opener of Season 7 of the DNLS is on December 6th, 2025. Races follow on December 20th, 2025, and on February 21st and 28th, 2026. Registration will begin shortly. Before the ‘big’ DNLS literally gets underway again, the final of the Community Cup will take place on November 14th. All information is available at vln.de/dnls.