A total of 20 cars from the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring (PETN) started at the 51st edition of the ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring on Saturday afternoon. Ten Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) in Cup 2 and ten Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982) in Cup 3 class took on the 24-hour marathon in the Green Hell. The cars in Cup 2 and Cup 3 classes compete under identical PETN technical regulations as part of the Nürburgring Endurance Series. However, the 24-hour race is considered a single event and does not count towards the PETN championship standings. Instead, the successful teams and drivers are honoured with special prizes. Like last year, KKrämer Racing won Cup 2 class. Christopher Brück, Karsten Krämer, 'SELV' and Alexey Veremenko formed the winning driver quartet on car number 161. In Cup 3 class, Heiko Eichenberg, Fabio Grosse and Patrik Grütter from Sorg Rennsport (#182) crossed the finish line first.

The qualifying of the 24-hour race was divided into three qualifying sessions. The drivers had a total of six and a half hours to set their laptimes. Qualifying 2 on Thursday evening took place over a period of three and a half hours and led into the night. Over the three sessions, Tobias Müller of Mühlner Motorsport (#123) set the fastest time in Cup 2 class with 8:29.437 minutes. First place on the grid in Cup 3 class went to eventual class winner Fabio Grosse of Sorg Rennsport (#182) with a lap time of 8:56.194 minutes. In contrast to the NLS, the 24-hour race is held on the 25.378-kilometre long combination of the Nürburgring GP circuit and the Nordschleife.

KKrämer Racing repeats Cup 2 victory from last year

In the first hours of the race, pole setter Mühlner Motorsport (#123) with Alexander Brundle, Ben Bünnagel, Tobias Müller as well as Kai Riemer and KKrämer Racing (#163) with Michele Di Martino, Moritz Kranz, Herbert Lösch as well as Noah Nagelsdiek delivered a thrilling duel for the top position in Cup 2 class. Incidents during the night caused both cars to fall behind, leaving the sister car of KKrämer Racing (#161) with the Clickversicherung.deTeam to fight for victory in the final hours of the Eifelmarathon. After 153 laps, the #161 car with Christopher Brück, Karsten Krämer, 'SELV', and Alexey Veremenko saw the chequered flag first, securing the second consecutive class win in the Cup 2 class for the team from Bergisch Gladbach. Robin Chrzanowski, Kersten Jodexnis, Dylan Pereira and Peter Scharmach of the Clickversicherung.deTeam (#169) followed 51.870 seconds behind. Third place went to RPM Racing (#150) with Philip Hamprecht, Marco Holzer, Nic Jönsson and Tracy Krohn. The three best-placed Cup 2 teams also finished in the top-20 overall.

"It's indescribable. The team has really worked hard over the last few weeks to prepare the cars and it has paid off. We are more than overwhelmed to win the Cup 2 class for the second time in a row," sums up Karsten Krämer, driver and team boss at KKrämer Racing.

The AM classification, which was introduced for the first time this year at the 24-hour race, was also won by car number 161. Second place went to RPM Racing with Philip Hamprecht, Marco Holzer, Nic Jönsson and Tracy Krohn ahead of Team Cameron (#162) with Bill Cameron, Jim Cameron and Ralf-Peter Bonk.

Cup 3 class win for the leaders of the PETN ranking

Currently, Heiko Eichenberg, Fabio Grosse and Patrik Grütter lead the Cup 3 drivers' classification and their team Sorg Rennsport the Cup 3 team classification in the PETN as part of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS). In the 24-hour race, the trio of drivers, who started from pole position, were able to lead the class from the very beginning and did not give up the lead over the entire distance. After 147 laps, the team from Wuppertal saw the checkered flag and thus finished three laps ahead of second-placed Peter Cate, Alex Fielenbach, Arno Klasen and Rüdiger Schicht from Mathol Racing (#181). Third place went to Team Oehme (#188) with brothers Leonard, Niklas and Moritz as well as father Ralf Oehme.

"Many thanks to the whole team and my driver colleagues, who did a great job. With pole position, fastest lap in the race and class win, it was a perfect weekend. I hope we can carry this over into the NLS and continue the season successfully there," sums up Fabio Grosse, Cup 3 class winner with car number 182.

The next round of the PETN is NLS4 and will take place on 17th June. The 46th RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen covers a distance of six hours.