08.12.2025
Even before the turn of the year, the organizers of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring published the schedule for the endurance racing highlight from May 14 to 17, 2026. This allows participants, fans, and teams to start planning for the coming year early on. The program ranges from historic endurance racing to the high-tech GT3 cars in the 24-hour starting field, once again making the weekend a superlative racing festival on the legendary Nordschleife. The detailed schedule for the ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers from April 17 to 19, 2026, has also been finalized. The prologue weekend one month before the race of the year offers two four-hour races, which, in addition to preparing for the highlight of the season, also count as the fourth and fifth rounds of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS). The program is enhanced by the second round of the new German Historic Endurance Championship (DHLM). The schedules are now available on our website.
The actual 24-hour race will kick off the four-day event in 2026 with the RCN, whose performance test will be held on Thursday morning for the first time on the entire circuit, including the Nordschleife and Grand Prix course. Immediately afterwards, training for the 24-hour race will begin with the first qualifying session in the afternoon. In the evening, the focus will be on the long night qualifying session, which will run until 11:30 p.m. and allow many teams to complete crucial laps in the dark. When the headlights cut through the Eifel night at 8:00 p.m., the fans' campfires will flicker around the Nordschleife – endurance racing romance in perfection.
On Friday, the focus will be on the new German Historic Endurance Championship (DHLM): after qualifying on Thursday, it will contest a three-hour race on the full circuit in the afternoon. The legacy of the ADAC 24h Classic, which has been popular for many years, is thus being taken up by an official DMSB championship, whose four races of the season will be held on the entire Nürburgring circuit. It not only continues the tradition of the 24h Classic, but also further enhances the status of historic endurance racing at the Ring. The program on all three days will be complemented by the touring car legends, who will bridge the gap to the touring car era, in which many fans collected their first 24h memories, with qualifying and two races on the Grand Prix circuit.
Top qualifying will be even more exciting and transparentFriday morning will be dedicated to the fastest teams in the 24-hour starting field chasing times. The format has been revised for the vehicles in starting group 1, which includes the SP9, SP-X, SP-Pro, and SP11 classes. In the three-stage top qualifying, only the fastest in each session will advance to the next top qualifying. The first two rounds will take place on Friday morning, with the final Top Qualifying 3 session in the early afternoon. It is only in this session that pole position will be awarded. The tried-and-tested multi-stage format will be further refined for 2026 based on previous experience and designed to make it even easier for fans and participants to follow. Details are still being fine-tuned and will be announced separately at a later date.
Before pole position is awarded, however, fans can still look forward to the “normal” Qualifying 3, which puts the other teams in the spotlight: the top qualifying cars are not eligible to start in this session. This allows the remaining teams to battle it out for their positions on the starting grid in the second and third starting groups without interference. On Saturday morning, the warm-up on the entire track will take place before the touring car legends kick off the final sporting event with their second race. This will be followed by the starting grid for the 24-hour race, with the formation lap starting at 2:40 p.m. for the race start at 3:00 p.m.
ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers with NLS classification and DHLM debutThe ADAC 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers will be upgraded in April. Qualifying on Saturday and Sunday morning will open the two race days. The first four-hour race is scheduled for Saturday evening, followed by the second four-hour race on Sunday after top qualifying and the starting grid. Both races will again count towards the ADAC RAVENOL Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS), which will start its 50th season in 2026. The newly integrated DHLM race adds an extra highlight: qualifying on Friday afternoon will be followed on Saturday by the season opener with a three-hour classic race. And the youngest motorsport enthusiasts will once again have a platform: eKart slalom races for young drivers aged 8 and above will take place in the paddock throughout the weekend.