The final ADAC Racing Weekend of 2023 will take place at the Nürburgring next weekend (13 - 15 October). For the finale, the participants of the GTC Race, the Special Touring Car Trophy (STT), the Touring Car Legends, the Touring Car Classic, the ADAC Touring Car Junior Cup, the Prototype Cup Germany, the Porsche Club Historic Challenge (PCHC), the Belcar Historic Cup and the VFV GLPPro will meet at the GP circuit of the Nürburgring. For the PCHC and the Belcar Historic Cup, it will each be the first appearance as part of this year's ADAC Racing Weekend. The free live stream begins at 8:35 a.m. on Saturday and 9:15 a.m. on Sunday and can be accessed at youtube.com/@adacmotorsports.
In the GTC Race, the title question is particularly exciting in the GT3 classification of the GT Sprint, as Julian Hanses (Audi R8 LMS GT3) and Moritz Wiskirchen (Mercedes-AMG GT3) travel to the Nürburgring almost tied on points. In the GT4 class, Leo Pichler (Porsche 718 Cayman GT4) and Jay Mo Härtling (Mercedes-AMG GT4) are the two drivers who have collected the most points before the finale, and in Class 3 Fabian Kohnert (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup) goes into the final comparison of the year as the favorite. Hanses is also ahead in the GT60 powered by Pirelli GT3 rankings, while the leaders in the GT4 class are Joel Mesch / Tim Neuser (Mercedes-AMG GT4) and Denis Liebl (KTM X-Bow GTX) leads in Class 3.
Also in the STT the race for the title is still open. The duo of Uwe Lauer / Francesco Lopez (Ferrari 488 GT3) comes to the Eifel as championship leaders, but Max Gruhn (Audi RS3 LMS TCR) is lurking just behind the two front runners. Henk Thuis (Pumaxs RT) and the two young drivers Tim Rölleke / Giuseppe Fico (BMW M4 GT4) follow in third and fourth overall. It is particularly noteworthy that Rölleke and Fico currently occupy fourth place despite having to skip the event at the Lausitzring. Additional suspense in the title fight is brought by the fact that double points will be awarded at the finale, so that everything is still open in the STT.
The Touring Car Legends shine just like their sister series Touring Car Classic with a starting field that includes between 20 and 30 cars in both series. Ekkehard Ludewigs (Mercedes 190 E 2.5-16 Evo II) has enlisted the support of former DTM champion Klaus Ludwig for the two rounds of the Touring Car Legends, while Altfrid Heger, who was also active in the DTM at the time, will pilot an Audi V8 DTM. The favorite to win the title is Yannik Dinger (BMW 328i E36), who leads the overall classification ahead of Thomas Ardelt (BMW M3 E30). In the Touring Car Classic, BWT Mücke Motorsport will bring a 1980 Ford Turbo Capri Gr. 5 to the start, driven by Peter Mücke. It is the oldest car, but also one of the most spectacular racers in the entire field. However, Altfrid Heger (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup), who is contesting the Touring Car Legends as well as the Touring Car Classic, has the best title prospects; Thilo Goos (Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24) is currently the first pursuer of the Essen native.
In the ADAC Touring Car Junior Cup, the participants, who all drive an identical VW up! GTI, are only at the beginning of their careers. At the recent ADAC Racing Weekend in Assen, Leon Arndt, one of the top favorites for the title at the start of the season, moved into first place in the overall standings with a double victory. But second-placed Mattis Pluschkell is unlikely to be so easy to shake off, after all the rookie has already been on the top step of the podium four times in his debut season and won both races on the Nürburgring's short circuit in the summer.
In the Prototype Cup Germany, the new champions Markus Pommer and Gary Hauser (both Duqueine D08) have already been confirmed, but the air is far from out in the LMP3 racing series. In the Junior classification Max van der Snel (Ligier JS P320) wants to defend his lead over his pursuers around Julien Apothéloz (Duqueine D08), while in the Trophy classification it is much closer, especially between Mark van der Snel (Ligier JS P320) and Wolfgang Payr (Duqueine D08). And finally, in the team classification, it boils down to a duel between Racing Experience and van ommen racing by DataLab.
For PCHC, the first guest appearance at an ADAC Racing Weekend is also the season finale. Christian Voigtländer (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) entered 2023 as the defending champion and he now comes to the Nürburgring as the leader of the standings. But he has to be careful, because with Eduard Heinz (Porsche 911 (991) GT3 Cup) another rival can knock him off the throne. Heinz, who does not start in the same class as Voigtländer, has to make up a deficit of 13.8 points to do so.
The Belcar Historic Cup always delights spectators with a large number of racing cars spanning the 1964 to 1998 model years. Two models date back to 1964: the Austin Mini Cooper S driven by Eric Damseaux and the Ford GT40 driven by Emiel de Weerdt. The youngest race car, the Peugeot 306 S16, which Erik Bruynoghe is bringing to the Nürburgring, is a full 34 years younger. Even three years older than the oldest race cars in the Belcar Historic Cup is the oldest car in the VFV GLPPro. However, Klaus Tweddell with his Marcos Gullwing GT from 1961 is not trying to finish first, but to complete the most consistent lap times - because that is the goal of a regularity test like the VFV GLPPro.
The final ADAC Racing Weekend 2023 starts at 8:05 a.m. on all three days. On Friday, the starting signal is given by the first qualifying session of the PCHC; the day ends at 5:25 p.m. with the qualifying session of the GT60 powered by Pirelli. On Saturday, free practice for the Belcar Historic Cup heralds the action on track, concluding with the finish of the GT60 powered by Pirelli at 17:40. Finally, on Sunday, the second qualifying session of the ADAC Touring Car Junior Cup kicks things off before the checkered flag drops at 4:55 p.m. for the second round of the Belcar Historic Cup, bringing the entire 2023 ADAC Racing Weekend season to a close. The day ticket on Saturday or Sunday is available for 20,- Euro each at the box office or in the online ticket store of the Nürburgring.