Lamborghini made a triumphant return to the top step of the podium last Sunday, when Grasser Racing delivered a masterful Endurance Cup victory at the Nürburgring.
This marked a first overall win in three years, but it was by no means unexpected: the Italian marque has always shown well at the Eifel circuit and was extremely quick at last month’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. With all the necessary tools at its disposal, Grasser Racing executed to perfection.
Though it did not start from pole, the #163 Lamborghini controlled the race from the front. The same was true in the Silver Cup and the Bronze Cup, which produced dominant showings from Boutsen VDS and Rutronik Racing respectively, while Saintéloc Racing won a much closer battle for Gold Cup honours. To sum it all up, here is the Final Word on Nürburgring 2024.
• Lamborghini has now won seven times in the Endurance Cup, the same number as its Italian rival Ferrari. Five of these victories have come courtesy of Grasser Racing. Sunday's win was the first for its Huracán EVO 2 model, which has been in action since the start of the 2023 campaign.
• Grasser Racing waited more than seven years for its fifth Endurance Cup win, the longest gap between victories in series history. The Austrian squad's previous overall triumph came at Silverstone in 2017, though it has earned several class wins – notably at last year's CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa – in the intervening seasons.
• Six different crews representing five brands have won the past six Endurance Cup races. This is still some way shy of the record 12 winning teams representing nine brands that won between the 2017 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and the 2019 finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
• Franck Perera's maiden series win came one month after the vastly experienced Frenchman set a new qualifying lap record at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Jordan Pepper scored his second victory – the first since he triumphed with Bentley Team M-Sport at Circuit Paul Ricard in 2019 – while Marco Mapelli earned his third.
• Porsche squad Schumacher CLRT scored its maiden podium finish by taking the runner-up spot on Sunday afternoon. It came almost exactly three years after team boss Côme Ledogar won the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa as a driver. Laurin Heinrich earned his second career podium, while Ayhancan Güven and Dorian Boccolacci stood on the rostrum for the first time.
• The #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter crew was perhaps a little disappointed to finish third after running P2 for the vast majority of the race, challenging for the lead throughout the first two hours. Nevertheless, it secured Maro Engel, Lucas Auer and Daniel Morad their first points of the season after troubled outings at Circuit Paul Ricard and Spa.
• Tresor Attempto Racing has quietly emerged as a serious contender for the Endurance Cup title. The #99 Audi of Aka/Haase/Feller finished fourth at the Nürburgring, making progress during each stint and scoring another good haul of points. The crew sits second in the standings with two rounds still to run, while Tresor Attempto Racing is third in the teams' classification.
• The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin finished fifth on the road but was classified sixth after receiving a penalty for an unsafe release at its final pit stop. Though it did not have winning pace at the Nürburgring, the Belgian squad banked solid points and remains well placed at the top of the standings.
• The Comtoyou crew of Thiim/Sørensen/Drudi tops the drivers' table with 54 points. Next is the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing line-up on 39 points, closely followed by the #163 Grasser Racing (38 points), the #998 ROWE Racing (36 points) and the #51 AF Corse Ferrari (35 points). While a dark horse could emerge, it seems likely that one of these five crews will take the title.
• Saintéloc Racing extended its Gold Cup advantage with a second win of the campaign. The #25 Audi of Magnus/Evrard/Pla started from pole but dropped back for the opening two stints, only to return to the front after the final round of pit stops. The Audi finished just 5.4 seconds clear of the #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG.
• These squads have drawn clear at the top of the Gold Cup standings after locking out the top two positions at each race. The Saintéloc crew holds an eight-point advantage, while the third place HRT Mercedes-AMG line-up is 38 points adrift.
• Boutsen VDS scored its first Silver Cup triumph and continued a perfect season for Mercedes-AMG, which also won with Winward Racing at Circuit Paul Ricard and with GetSpeed at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. This was the first class win for Roee Meyuhas and Cesar Gazeau, while Aurélien Panis has now won races in both Gold and Silver for Boutsen VDS.
• The Belgian squad truly dominated at the Nürburgring, qualifying 12 places clear of its nearest Silver Cup rival. Panis was especially fast, topping the class in Q3 by almost half a second. This performance was carried into the race, with the #10 Mercedes-AMG finishing a lap clear of the competition.
• One of the most impressive performances of the race came from the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG. The car started last on the 50-car grid after suffering damage in the first segment of qualifying but charged back to finish P2 in class. Daan Arrow set the fastest Silver Cup race lap in the process.
• The Winward Racing crew has established a 20-point lead at the top of the Silver Cup standings, the biggest in any class ahead of the penultimate round at Monza. The #10 Boutsen VDS line-up is now second, with the #3 GetSpeed entry completing a Mercedes-AMG one-two-three.
• Boutsen VDS was not the only team to dominate at the Nürburgring. Rutronik Racing delivered an equally impressive showing in the Bronze Cup, winning from pole with its #97 Porsche. This car was also a lap clear of its nearest contender.
• Victory marked the perfect comeback for the crew of Dustin Blattner, Loek Hartog and Dennis Marschall following a disappointing CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. The #97 Porsche was the first retirement in the Ardennes classic, hitting problems after just 30 minutes.
• For the second weekend in a row, Miguel Ramos was the fastest Bronze driver thanks to a qualifying time of 1m55.759s – and, for the second weekend in a row, the Portuguese was tagged into an opening lap spin. The #188 Garage 59 McLaren recovered to finish P6 in class.
• The Bronze Cup title battle is wide open. The #52 AF Corse Ferrari did not score but remains on top of the standings, four points clear of the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari. The #97 Rutronik Porsche crew sit seventh, 30 points off the top and with 60 still to score.
• Rutronik Racing’s #96 entry led a Porsche one-two in a very close qualifying session. Sven Müller earned his second career pole, while both Patric Niederhauser and Julien Andlauer were first-time pole-winners. Their race was over after one lap following contact with the #71 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari, driven by David Vidales, which recieved a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.
• This was Porsche's fifth Endurance Cup pole and its first since last year's CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. It marked the second time that the brand has locked out the front row. The previous instance also occurred at the Nürburgring, with GPX Racing leading Dinamic Motorsport in 2020.
• Maro Engel set a new qualifying lap record at the wheel of his #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter machine. The German delivered a 1m53.121s in Q3 to beat Dries Vanthoor's longstanding benchmark, which dated back to 2017. Engel also posted the fastest race lap, a 1m55.762s, during the middle stint.
• Sunday's race ran without either a Full-Course Yellow or Safety Car. This is the second year in succession that the Nürburgring contest has run entirely uninterrupted. The last time it happened at another circuit was at Silverstone in 2018.
• With two rounds left to run, five crews representing five manufacturers have completed every lap of the Endurance Cup season: the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin; the #51 AF Corse Ferrari; the #163 Grasser Racing Lamborghini; the #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG; and the #998 ROWE Racing BMW.
• The 2025 Fanatec GT Europe calendar was confirmed in full on Sunday morning, with three changes from the schedule announced during the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Circuit Paul Ricard will reprise its popular six-hour format, while Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya becomes an Endurance Cup event and Magny-Cours returns as a Sprint round.
• Magny-Cours will also stage the next stop on this year's Fanatec GT Europe schedule, hosting the penultimate round of the Sprint Cup on 23–25 August. The Endurance Cup returns to action at Monza on 20-22 September.