Five championship titles decided in the penultimate race of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring season 2024

Nordschleife | PETN

Tobias Müller and BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH are PETN Cup 2 driver's and team champions
Mustafa Mehmet Kaya and Mike Stursberg from BLACK FALCON win the championship in the Cup 2 amateur drivers' classification with the sister car
Horst Baumann is AM-champion in Cup 3 with Schmickler Performance
Markus Nölken becomes the first PETN Cup 3 gentleman driver's champion with the Renazzo Motorsport Team

Nürburg. The penultimate race of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring (PETN) season, held as part of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS), saw five championship titles decided. With 14 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) in the Cup 2 class and 15 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982) in the Cup 3 class, the Porsche one-make series started into the 4-hour race at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. With a victory from pole position, the BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH (#148) is now uncatchable in the Cup 2 class and is PETN Cup 2 Team Champion 2024. Driver Tobias Müller is thus driver champion in this class. Mustafa Mehmet Kaya and Mike Stursberg of the sister car with starting number 103 secured the championship in the amateur driver's classification of the class. The championship in the AM classification of the Cup 3 class was also decided in the penultimate race of the season: Horst Baumann of Schmickler Performance (#950) cannot be caught by the competition. The championship-deciding day was rounded off with Markus Nölken, who races for the Renazzo Motorsport Team (#945), winning the gentlemen driver's championship.

In the rainy qualifying session on Saturday morning, Tobias Müller set the fastest lap time in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) of BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH (#148). He lapped the 24.358-kilometre combination of the short Grand Prix circuit loop and the Nordschleife in 9:56.984 minutes. In the Cup 3 class, Fabio Grosse of SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#959) set the fastest time with 10:29.427 minutes.

Close decision in the Cup 2 class

The early championship decision in the Cup 2 class was so close that it was ultimately decided by the additional point for the fastest race lap. The fastest lap of the BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH (#148) was only 0.043 seconds faster than the second-placed AVIA W&S Motorsport (#120) with Daniel Blickle, David Jahn and Tim Scheerbarth. This means that Tobias Müller and the BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH (#148) are uncatchable in the championship with one race to go before the end of the season. Müller shared the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) with Noah Nagelsdiek and Steve Jans this season. Both were unable to take part in all the races and are therefore further down the driver standings. KKrämer Racing (#121) with Christopher Brück and Michele di Martino completed the podium in the Cup 2 class. ‘It finally worked out after the third attempt. It's a shame for my teammates that I'm champion alone, so I see the victory with a laughing and a crying eye. But today's race couldn't have gone better. Pole position, fastest race lap and now the championship victory in the Cup 2 team and driver's standings – it doesn't get any better than this,’ explains Cup 2 driver champion Tobias Müller. The winners in the amateur drivers' classification also come from the Black Falcon team. Mustafa Mehmet Kaya and Mike Stursberg, who were supported this weekend by PRO-driver Adam Christodoulou in car number 103, won the championship with their victory in the classification. In this race, Christodoulou replaced Gabriele Piana, who was unable to attend due to a parallel event. Piana shared the car with the champion duo in the previous races. 'It's amazing to win the AM championship. We feel completely relieved. We had a very nice season with a great finish. Thanks to everyone! Now we will be celebrating alltogether', says Cup 2 AM-champion Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, who already won the championship in 2022. Second place in the amateur driver's classification went to KKrämer Racing (#112) with Karsten Krämer, Patryk Krupinski and Fidel Leib, who, as the best-placed AM-driver pairing, also won the gentlemen driver's classification. Third place went to Team Cameron (#113) with Bill Cameron and Jim Cameron.

All championships in the Cup 3 class decided

Heiko Eichenberg, Fabio Grosse and Patrik Grütter from SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#959) took the first place on the podium in the Cup 3 class in the seventh race. Second place went to Horst Baumann and Stefan Schmickler from Schmickler Performance (#950) ahead of SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#969) with Oleksii Kikireshko and Rüdiger Schicht. Baumann and PRO-driver Schmickler also secured victory in the amateur driver's standings with second place, thus prematurely crowning Baumann as AM-champion. ‘I'm over the moon to win the amateur driver's championship – I didn't expect that yet. I thought the championship would be decided in the last race. Of course, celebrating the championship win with a second place in the class is great – especially in these weather conditions,’ said Cup 3 AM-champion Horst Baumann. Third place went to Team Oehme (#944) with Leonard Oehme and Moritz Oehme, who also won the Gentlemen driver's classification. In the championship, however, the duo was beaten by Markus Nölken (#945) of the Renazzo Motorsport team, who came second. Nölken, who shared the cockpit with Nils Steinberg, is thus the first Cup 3 gentlemen driver's champion in the newly-founded PETN classification. ‘It's my first year in the car and I've already won the gentlemen driver's championship – I'm super happy. That was really fun! Next year it's all about defending the title. That's usually even more difficult, but I'll definitely be in the running again,’ explains Cup 3 gentlemen driver's champion Markus Nölken. With AVIA W&S Motorsport (#962) already confirmed as team champions in the last race, along with their drivers Joshua Bednarski, Lucas Daugaard and Moritz Oberheim as driver's champions, all the Cup 3 class standings have now been decided. However, the trio still has a chance of winning the NLS overall championship in the last race of the season. The last race of the 2024 Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring season will take place on 16 November. The 56th ADAC Barbarossapreis will decide the championship of the Cup 2 gentlemen driver's classification and the PETN Overall Champion will be crowned. The race will cover a distance of four hours.

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