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Dunlop Porsche Wins 2026 NLS Finale as BMW Trio Clinches Title

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Archive endurance racing car on a circuit, used as an illustrative image for the 2026 NLS finale report
Archive/illustrative endurance-racing photograph; not the 2026 NLS finale or the winning No. 17 Porsche. Photo by Appic on Unsplash.

Dunlop Motorsport closed the 2026 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie season with an overall victory on Saturday, October 10, as Nico Menzel and Sven Müller brought the No. 17 Porsche 911 GT3 R home first in the 2nd NLS Sportwarte-Trophy. The result also settled the series championship: Edoardo Bugane, Yannick Fübrich and Sven Markert won the BMW M240i class in the No. 650 Adrenalin Motorsport entry, a result that gives the trio an unassailable points total.

The NLS initially posted the race classification as provisional at 4:30 p.m. local time. The organizer’s subsequent race report confirmed the winners and championship outcome while noting that appeals connected with NLS9 and NLS10 remain active; NLS said those proceedings do not affect the leading championship positions. On the published classification, the No. 17 completed 27 laps of the 24.358-kilometer Nürburgring combination in 4 hours, 00 minutes and 37.071 seconds.

Dunlop Porsche leads a tight GT3 finish

Menzel and Müller finished 37.691 seconds ahead of the No. 44 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R shared by Tim Heinemann and Müller. That unusual double listing reflects Müller driving both Porsche entries during the event. Jordan Pepper and Tim Tramnitz completed the overall podium in Schubert Motorsport’s No. 77 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, 1 minute and 31.182 seconds behind the winner.

  • 1st: No. 17 Dunlop Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R — Menzel/Müller — 27 laps
  • 2nd: No. 44 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R — Heinemann/Müller — +37.691 seconds
  • 3rd: No. 77 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO — Pepper/Tramnitz — +1:31.182
  • 4th: No. 75 Max Kruse Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II — +1:39.048
  • 5th: No. 48 48 Losch Motorsport by Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO — +2:11.290

The fifth-place No. 48 Porsche recorded the quickest lap shown in the overall classification, a 7:57.915 on lap 16. The winning No. 17 Porsche’s best was a 7:58.405. In all, 115 cars started and 92 were classified, underlining the scale and traffic management challenge of the four-hour finale.

Class win delivers the 2026 championship

The title calculation was straightforward entering the finale. Bugane, Fübrich and Markert led with 94 points, and the series said a class victory would add 15 points and secure the championship without relying on any rival’s result. The No. 650 BMW M240i Racing Cup car did exactly that, finishing first among 10 starters in its class after 24 laps. Its 4:04:28.045 total put it 1:28.469 ahead of the second-place No. 664 BMW.

The organizer’s post-race report lists Bugane, Fübrich and Markert as champions with 109 points after their seventh class victory of the season. Closest challengers Alexander Fielenbach and Oskar Sandberg finished second in CUP3 with the No. 953 Smyrlis Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS and ended on 101 points. Adrenalin Motorsport therefore secured its eighth overall NLS championship. Although the results remain formally provisional because appeals are ongoing, NLS says the leading championship positions are not affected.

A second 2026 win for the No. 17 Porsche

The finale gives Menzel and Müller another major result in the Dunlop-liveried Porsche after their narrow NLS6 victory in June. This time the margin was larger, but the No. 17 again finished ahead of strong factory-linked GT3 opposition from Porsche and BMW.

Chiefs Review previewed the three-way championship fight and the 118-car entry before the event in our NLS finale guide. The decisive class results followed the scenario set out there: the championship leaders controlled their own outcome, while the CUP3 and SP10 challengers needed both a strong finish and trouble for the No. 650 BMW.

Featured image: Archive/illustrative endurance-racing photograph, not the 2026 NLS finale or the winning No. 17 Porsche. Photo by Appic via Unsplash.

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