NLS 10, the final race of the year!
The final race of the year! And what a race! The final weekend is really here. It promises to be a great weekend with a number of guests and sponsors stopping by. Not only to watch the race, but also to take a lap around the iconic circuit at racing speed!
What a season we’ve had. From huge highlights such as our first win and my lap record in the NLS, to a low point where the car completely burned out at the front. We can say that my debut season in the NLS certainly brought a lot with it.
As always, we arrive on Thursday. Taking it easy, setting everything up and getting everything ready so we can dive into bed on time. In the week leading up to the race I’m feeling a bit sick and not quite fit. Fortunately, I took my rest and I’m feeling good enough again to go all out. On Friday, registration only starts at 11 a.m., so I can get some extra rest.
Friday:
Friday starts off relaxed. Our videographer for this weekend, Luuk Notten, arrives right on time so we can make good use of the day by creating some social media content. Once registration is done and all the paperwork is sorted out again, the first guests of the weekend arrive around midday. The official practice session doesn’t start until 15:00, which gives us plenty of time to show all the guests around the pit box and the lounge.
As the end of the afternoon approaches, I start getting ready to drive the practice session. I take another look at my onboard footage and data so everything I need to do is fresh in my mind again. Where I would normally jump straight into the BMW, I’m now first deployed as a Sorg driver to provide an incentive for Vodafone Germany. This means I get to drive, before my own practice session, a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS with Vodafone guests! Very valuable seat time with an eye on the future.
The incentive consists of two days. On the first day, the guests receive a tour at Sorg and enjoy lunch in the Sorg lounge. After that, the guests join me for a taxi lap around the circuit. Following the afternoon program, they have dinner at the Lindner Hotel located at the circuit. A very cool program. My role here is not only to drive the guests around, but also to attend the dinner in the evening to give them the complete experience and to talk about the day together.
Day 2 of the incentive consists of a fully catered race day.
Completely taken care of with food and drinks, a tour through the pit lane and pit box, and of course experiencing the excitement of the race!
Because this is the final race weekend, and it’s already October, the organization decides to start the practice session an hour earlier and continue until it gets too dark. As a result, we end up with more than half an hour of extra driving time, which of course is no problem for me.
After my laps in the Porsche with the Vodafone guests, it’s time to switch to the BMW for some more useful practice time. But also to take my guests along for a full-throttle lap around the circuit. If you’ve never driven on this circuit before, you have no idea what hits you. Needless to say, my passengers enjoy their ride over the Nordschleife immensely! Together with them, I enjoy it just as much. Sharing my sport in this way remains incredible. Overall, the practice session goes very well and we can look forward to the race feeling satisfied and positive.
After the chequered flag of the practice session, it’s time to quickly head over to the drivers’ briefing. Here we hear the latest updates and specifics for the weekend. It’s a bit of a rush because the dinner with the Vodafone guests is scheduled quite close together. A busy but enjoyable evening. After dinner, we chat a bit more in the lounge before heading to bed on time. Tomorrow we need to be fresh and fit for race day!
Saturday, race day!
The final race day of the NLS season has arrived, and it starts off very well… My engineer had overslept. Qualifying is already about to begin and the mechanics don’t yet know exactly what needs to be done. Which is understandable, as the engineer is responsible for directing everything and making the right calls. As a result, we miss the right moment in qualifying. We get caught in traffic at the start of the session. All things considered, we don’t manage to take pole position. But with a P3 and only 0.150 seconds behind number one, it’s not a bad starting position.
The race will be started by Marius. Piet-Jan will drive the second stint, and I will take over for the third stint to the finish. Marius has a good start, but struggles a bit once it starts to rain. Not surprising when you consider that slicks are not made for driving in the rain. We drop back to P6. When he hands the car over to Piet-Jan, he tells the team that rain tyres are needed. Unfortunately, the team thinks otherwise, as it does not look that bad on the onboard footage.
Piet-Jan goes out on track, and in sector 4 things go wrong. It looks like he has come to a stop, but in reality he has simply spun. Without hitting the barriers, he makes it back to the pits and finally gets the rain tyres that are needed. Once back on track, he is immediately on the throttle and starts gaining position after position. After an exciting stint, he comes into the pits in P3 to hand the car over to me. During his stint, the rain has stopped and the track slowly starts to dry.
When I get into the car, the track is damp but drying. We still have to make a “splash and dash,” which gives me the luxury of deciding myself when to switch to slicks. This means we do not lose any time there. On the rain tyres, I am between 7 and 15 seconds per lap faster than the cars in our class. As a result, the gap to P2 closes rapidly. We time the switch to slicks perfectly, if I may say so. With three laps to go, the moment has come. The GP circuit is still wet, but when entering the Nordschleife it is already a bit drier. The ideal racing line is so narrow that any mistake will be punished. Here and there, other cars also opt for slicks, but that does not end well everywhere.
I quickly catch the car running in P2, and the gap to P1 is about 1 minute 50 seconds — something I don’t know at that moment, by the way. The only thing I know is to push and go as hard and as smart as possible. Later I hear that in the first full lap on slicks I was 10 seconds faster than the car in P1. In the second full lap my confidence is high and I take 35 seconds out of him. In the final lap to the flag I see the car in P1 ahead of me. I was 55 seconds faster than him over that lap. Unfortunately, I come up 10 seconds short of catching him. What a stint.
There was still a small “oops” moment in there, which meant I had to be a bit cautious. Writing off a car is not the intention. But when I come into parc fermé and am welcomed by my teammates and sponsors, everyone is happy and enthusiastic. “It was super exciting behind the screens.” “Man, you closed that gap so fast.” Amazing to hear, of course.
The team boss welcomed me with the words, “Today you got your master!!”. With words like that, I can’t help but be extremely satisfied. All in all, we’ve had a top weekend and season, and we’ve made some great steps forward. With the result: 7 podiums. 4 pole positions. 9 top-5 qualifying results. One victory, and, as the icing on the cake, the lap record on the 24h layout in the VT-RWD class.
I am incredibly grateful to everyone who is part of this adventure. With the support and backing, once again this year,I have been able to make huge steps forward. The decision to compete in the NLS has proven to be a very good one!
Now we are going to work hard to get the 2026 season sorted! It will take a lot of effort and the necessary steps will have to be made, but we are going all in! Together with my sponsors and partners!!
