Class win for W&S Motorsport at NLS season finale

Team-mates Finn Zulauf, Moritz Oberheim and Marius Rauer in the AVIA racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS #960 qualified second. The trio was also on course for the podium and could have clinched a perfect result for the team of Patrick Wagner and Daniel Schellhaas in Cup3. But a puncture shortly before the end shattered the dream and the car had to be retired.

In Cup2 of the PETN, Tim Scheerbarth and Paul Harkema in the AVIA racing Porsche 992 GT3 Cup #120 also battled for a class podium in the hard-fought category after starting from second place. In the end, they finished fourth in Cup2 and 13th overall.

René Höber, Sébastien Carcone and Joshua Bednarski in the Vöhringer Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS #961 had to pit right at the beginning due to a technical defect and lost around 45 minutes due to the repair work. Afterwards, they drove a faultless race and finished 14th in the Cup3 classification.

In the production-based V5 class, Andreas Müller and Peter Siebert in the Porsche Cayman 981 2.7l collected more race laps for their Nordschleife permit and started from pole position. In the end, they finished in second place.

Quotes after the race

Patrick Wagner, Team Principal W&S Motorsport: "We have had a lot of bad luck this season and many things have not gone as we expected. That's why we are even more pleased that the streak of bad luck with the CMS Porsche #962 has come to an end and a well-deserved victory has been achieved. Niclas and Philip drove a perfect race and were really fast. Congratulations to both of them! Tim and Paul had a good race in the #120 and fourth place is also a great result. The guys in the #960 also did very well, but unfortunately a puncture cost us another podium finish. The #450 worked great and the drivers had a lot of fun. Second place for them is very well deserved. Unfortunately, the #961 had a technical defect, so we lost a lot of time in the pits. But the drivers put in a flawless performance and drove a faultless race. All in all, it was a good weekend and we can be motivated going into the new season. Thanks to everyone for the effort and great work this year!"

Tim Scheerbarth, Driver #120: "We started from second place again and managed to stay in the top group of the fiercely contested Cup2 class. In the end, we just missed the podium with fourth position. All in all, it wasn't an easy season, but we didn't give up and we showed, especially in the last two races, that we can compete for the win. I would like to thank everyone at W&S Motorsport! Once again it was a lot of fun to work with such a professional team. I hope we will attack together again next year and race for the championship."

Finn Zulauf, Driver #960: "The 2023 NLS season is over and it was a lot of fun to finally have completed my first full season on the Nordschleife. Unfortunately, it wasn't as successful as we had hoped. But I still had a lot of fun and at least we can look back on three podium finishes and one victory. The season finale went pretty well until shortly before the end. We were in the leading group and had a strategic advantage, so we had a good chance for a good result. Unfortunately, we had another puncture shortly before the end and had to stop the car because of that. Now I am excited to see what happens in 2024 and would be very happy to continue racing with the team on the Nordschleife."

Niclas Wiedmann, Driver #962: "We couldn't have had a better end to the season: We won the race! It got close again at the end because we had to make a fuel stop as the race took longer than expected. The result made up for the previous failures. It was great for Philip and me to show that when our car is running and everything is perfect, we could have been in contention for the championship this year. We are super happy about the victory! Now we focus on next year, want to build on that and then fight for the championship next year."