Three Crews Enter Nürburgring’s 2026 NLS Finale With Title Hopes

The 2026 Nürburgring Endurance Series championship will be decided in a four-hour finale on Saturday, October 10, with three driver lineups still mathematically in contention. The Nürburgring published the final title scenarios on October 9 ahead of the tenth and last round on the Nordschleife.

The leaders control their outcome

Edoardo Bugane, Yannick Fübrich and Sven Markert lead with 94 points in an Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhattan Wheels BMW M240i Racing Cup car. A class victory is worth 15 points, so a win would lift the trio to 109 and secure the championship without relying on another result.

Alexander Fielenbach and Oskar Sandberg are second in a Smyrlis Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS. Their maximum is 105 points. If the Porsche crew wins its class and the BMW trio finishes second, both lineups would reach 105 points with six class victories each.

Under the organizer’s published scenario, that tie would be decided by the average number of competitors in each crew’s class over the season. The larger CUP3 field would favor Fielenbach and Sandberg. A third-place class finish for the BMW leaders would leave them at 102 if the Porsche pair wins.

A long-shot third contender

Alexandru Vasilescu remains eligible on 80 points in an AV Racing by BLACK FALCON BMW M4 GT4. He would need a class win, no points for Bugane, Fübrich and Markert, and no better than fifth in class for Fielenbach and Sandberg. That combination makes Vasilescu the outsider, but not eliminated before the start.

New entries add depth to the finale

Jung Motorsport will use the race as a test for a planned full-season 2027 Mercedes-AMG GT4 program. Formula racer Mathilda Paatz, born in 2008, is also scheduled to make her Nordschleife competition debut alongside her father Michael in a Volkswagen Scirocco R.

The front of the field includes 21 GT3 cars, according to the circuit’s preview. Konrad Motorsport returns with a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO I, while Gamota Racing adds a second BMW M4 GT3 EVO. The mix should create an overall race battle separate from the class-based championship arithmetic.

For another championship-deciding weekend, see Chiefs Review’s Porsche Carrera Cup Hockenheim finale preview.

Sources and image credit

Primary source: Nürburgring, October 9, 2026. Featured image is an archive illustration of an Adrenalin Motorsport BMW M240i Racing Cup car during the 2023 NLS season, photographed by SunflowerYuri and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.