Nürburgring endurance battle solved in court
After months of legal wrangling, a court in Germany has ruled that the VLN, which runs the NLS races on the the Nürburgring Nordschleife, can host an equal number of race dates as the Automobilclub von Deutschland (AvD) and its new series, the NES.
The AvD and NR Holdings, owners of the Nürburgring, had sought to launch a new series with its own identity. Initial plans to work with the VLN organisation to launch it faltered, leading to a split which had to be ruled upon in court.
A court in Koblenz ruled that the VLN should be allowed a number of races after the AvD and NLS sought to dominate the available race dates.
The VLN was initially awarded five dates on which it could host races, while the NES could take the remaining dates for its own new series. However, the NLS total has been increased to eight races this year.
An independent company, ILN, which features teams such as
Manthey Racing, Black Falcon and Adrenalin Motorsport on its board of management, and which represents the interests of teams and drivers who compete in endurance racing on the Nordschleife, sided with the VLN and NLS.
The water was then further muddied when the marshals also came out in favour of the NLS.
‘Finally we have the green light for NES,’ said AvD managing director, Lutz Leif Linden, who is also president of the GT endurance commission at the FIA.
‘Our aim is to gradually make the endurance series more attractive for the future. To this end, we have developed sporting, technical and organisational regulations with some new, innovative approaches for the NES.’
The Nürburgring 24-hour race, run by ADAC, and which is at the heart of German endurance racing, has this year for the first time integrated Stéphane Ratel’s Intercontinental GT Challenge series for GT3 cars.