| With outstanding team spirit, a strong performance from the mechanics and good pace, Car Collection Motorsport put in an impressive showing at the NLS Double Header. The Double Header is one of the highlights of the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie season. A four-hour race took place on both Saturday and Sunday on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. For the first time since 2024, the team from Walluf fielded an Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II, driven by Florian Spengler, Nico Hantke and Christer Joens. On Saturday, former Audi works driver Joens qualified the car in a strong fourth place on the grid. The race turned out to be very chaotic, with numerous accidents, some of them severe. The car lost a few positions straight away at the start, but thanks to consistent driving, the three drivers were able to fight their way back up to eighth place overall after their early losses – which equated to third place in the SP9 Pro-Am category. On Sunday, the competitors faced completely different conditions. Typical Eifel weather brought changeable conditions, before the rain became increasingly heavy as the day progressed. In qualifying, Joens skidded off the track on his first lap on slicks in the Adenauer Forst and hit the guard rail. This caused severe damage to the front of the Audi. The mechanics got straight to work as soon as the car returned to the pits and repaired it, enabling the Car Collection Motorsport Audi to start the race from the back of the first starting group. During the race, the three drivers launched a strong comeback and were able to move up the field position by position. After the rain-soaked race, they finished in seventh place, making them the highest-placed Audi in the Nürburgring Endurance Series field. In the SP9 Pro-Am class, Spengler, Hantke and Joens finished fourth on Sunday. “We’re pleased with our Audi’s performance at the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie double-header. Our pace was really good on both days, which meant we were also the best-placed Audi in the field on Sunday. Our drivers did a brilliant job on the track. Given the conditions, Christer was not to blame for his crash on Sunday morning, but thanks to an outstanding effort by the mechanics, the car was able to take part in the race. For us, the event was also a good test, as we are planning to contest the entire NLS season next year with an Audi alongside the Porsche. From our point of view, the car remains extremely competitive, as we demonstrated this weekend. Furthermore, the whole team was delighted to be working with Florian again after two years – we’ve already enjoyed success with him in the ADAC GT Masters,” says team manager Romina Schmidt, looking back on an eventful weekend. |
