30 GT3 Cars Headline Entry List for Second NLS Round – Sportscar365 - Sportscar365

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A 30-car field in the front-running SP9 category headlines a 141-car entry list for the second round of the NLS season taking place at the Nürburgring this weekend.

Several SP9 entries feature bolstered lineups for Saturday’s four-hour contest, after many drivers missed the opening NLS round due to a clash with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship event at Sebring.

ROWE Racing, which took victory in the opener with Dries Vanthoor and Maxime Martin, has all six of BMW’s drivers from the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on board for its two-car effort.

Sheldon van der Linde, Marco Wittmann and Connor De Phillippi are in the No. 98 BMW M4 GT3 while Philipp Eng, Nick Yelloly and Augusto Farfus are confirmed in the No. 99.

Kevin Estre will co-drive the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R with Thomas Preining after missing Round 1 to race for Porsche’s factory LMDh program in the WEC at Sebring.

Cadillac LMDh ace Earl Bamber, as well as David Pittard and Corvette Racing driver Nicky Catsburg, are due to share the wheel of Frikadelli Racing Team’s Ferrari 296 GT3.

Jordan Pepper and Nicki Thiim, who were also at Sebring, join Marco Mapelli at Lamborghini squad ABT Sportsline which fielded Kelvin van der Linde at the first race.

Laurens Vanthoor joins Laurin Heinrich at Dinamic GT, with Matteo Cairoli and Julien Andlauer lining up for fellow Porsche squad Rutronik Racing.

Doerr Motorsport has joined the SP9 Pro grid with an Aston Martin Vantage GT3, for a program that will see factory driver Darren Turner align with Ben and Phil Doerr.

CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa winners Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello are all racing on Saturday in factory-assisted Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos.

Gounon, Juncadella and Maro Engel are representing Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed while Marciello is part of the Haupt Racing Team-operated Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein crew that also includes Luca Stolz and Philip Ellis.

Audi Sport has two of its three factory-supported N24 entries in action for the NLS round, as part of its preparations to defend last year’s victory in the 24-hour race.

Car Collection Motorsport is not participating in SP9 this weekend, although Land-Motorsport and Phoenix Racing will each have an Audi Sport Team entry present.

Of note, Cadillac LMDh driver Renger van der Zande is part of Phoenix’s privateer Scherer Sport Team PHX lineup along with Markus Winkelhock and Frank Stippler.

Just over three-quarters of the SP9 grid have all-professional driver lineups.

SP9 is the biggest class in the 141-car field, although there are 13 entries in both Porsche Endurance Trophy categories and 17 in the VT2-FWD division for touring cars.