The penultimate round of the 2026 Nürburgring Circuit Challenge (RCN) will take place on Saturday 26 September on the 24.358-kilometre circuit configuration of the Nürburgring (Nordschleife + GP short link). The ‘Preis der Erftquelle’ special stage, organised by SfG Schönau e.V. within the ADAC, will consist of 16 laps covering a distance of 389.728 kilometres. The start will take place at 12.30 pm on the start-and-finish straight of the GP circuit. Just under 160 entries have been received for this round of the grassroots racing series.

RCN series manager Willi Hillebrand: “We are slowly approaching the end of the season. If the weather is on our side again, we’ll be in for an exciting event and will see the first decisive moments in the championship.”

The 16 laps of the performance test at the legendary Nürburgring are made up as follows: 1 setting lap, 2 confirmation laps, 12 sprint laps and 1 cool-down lap. Refuelling takes place in the pit lane; all cars are only permitted to refuel during the sprint laps and must adhere to the prescribed total pit stop time of 10 minutes. If this time is not met, 10 penalty points are awarded for every second. The maximum total driving time for this RCN event is 225 minutes.

With 24 cars, the R4 class is once again the largest on the starting grid. Sixteen entrants have entered the R2A class. Eleven cars have been entered in the H4 class. Nine teams are set to compete in each of the H3 and RS4 classes. The current RCN championship leaders for 2026 are Sven Markert and Lars Harbeck (both from Berlin, driving a BMW 320i) in the H3 class, a class the pair have won every time so far. As the field in this class is not usually particularly strong, there are still other promising rivals. Jens Schneider and Robin Reimer (Engelsbrand/Schömberg) from the R4 class, who have led for much of this season, face the challenge of coming up against two equally strong teams. The pair must always be wary of Sascha Steinhart (Hilden, BMW 325i) and Jan Buchwald (Menden, BMW 325i), who are capable of securing a stage victory at any time and, even if the worst result is discarded, still have an outside chance of winning the title. Third place in the championship table is held by Christian Koch (Wickede, BMW 325i) from the H4 class.

But the battle for the titles is still raging in the other RCN categories too. In the RCN Overall Winners’ Cup, Michael Luther/Markus Schmickler (Barsbüttel/Bad Neuenahr, BMW M4 GT4) and David Vogt (Waldfeucht, Opel Astra TCR) are locked in a neck-and-neck battle. In the RCN Light class, Andrea Heim (Gronau, Renault Clio) and Maximilian Weissermel (Oberursel, Porsche Cayman) are the favourites. Michael Luther leads the RCN Seniors’ Cup by a comfortable margin. In the RCN Ladies’ Trophy, Lisa Ganser and Sophie Hoenjet (Würselen/Boos, Seat Leon Cupra) are currently in the lead. In the RCN Junior Cup, Lukas Schwenk (Volxheim, Renault Megane RS) is ahead of Elias Funke (Lippstadt, Renault Clio RS).

There are plenty of favourites for top placings, including Michael Luther and Markus Schmickler, David Vogt, Andreas Schwarz (Obernburg, Cupra Leon TCR), Alain Dutronc (Switzerland, Porsche Cayman GT4 CS), Rolf Weißenfeld (Peterslahr, Peugeot 308 TCR), Erich Petrich (Wawern, BMW M3), Axel and Andreas Schwelgien (both from Fürstenwalde, BMW M3), Reinhold Renger and Marc Andreas Riedl (Rothenburg/Hamburg, Porsche Cayman GT4 CS) and, for the second time this season, Dirk Maier (Albstadt) with Yannik Fübrich (Brackenheim) in the BMW M2 Competition.