Second place overall, three class victories and five out of five cars that started at the finish line - that was the impressive result for the BLACK FALCON team after the 6h Ruhr Cup race, the fourth round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) in the 2024 season.

However, the mood was significantly dampened by a serious work accident that occurred in the NLS paddock on the eve of the race. Apparently caused by the explosion of a compressed air cylinder, numerous people were injured, some of them seriously.

"The thoughts of the entire BLACK FALCON team are with those affected and their families - thankfully there were no injuries in our team. We wish those involved in the accident a full and speedy recovery and would like to thank all the first responders on site," says Alexander Böhm, Managing Director of BLACK FALCON.

Like many other teams, BLACK FALCON would like to provide financial support to those injured in the accident.
The VLN has set up a donation account for this purpose:

https://www.nuerburgring-langstrecken-serie.de/en/2024/08/05/vln-collects-donations-for-those-affected-by-the-accident-before-nls4/

BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH: Second place overall and third class win
The Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (#148) of BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH with drivers Steve Jans, Tobias Müller and Gabriele Piana ensured the best overall result for BLACK FALCON since the 2019 season. Starting driver Müller kept a cool head in the initial phase, which was characterised by heavy rain, and kept the Team 48 LOSCH Porsche on the track despite heavy aquaplaning, in opposition to various competitors in the GT3 class. After the race was interrupted on the second lap due to the many slips, the #148 started the second start of the day from sixth position overall. With an outstanding performance, Jans, Müller and Piana gradually worked their way forwards and even overtook three much stronger cars from the GT3 class, resulting in a commanding class victory and a sensational 2nd place overall after 29 laps of racing. After its third win of the season, BLACK FALCON Team 48 LOSCH now leads the CUP2 class in the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring (PETN) championship by a clear margin.

Second class win for Team BILSTEIN
The three drivers of the BMW M4 GT4 (#150) of Team BILSTEIN by BLACK FALCON, "Jimmy Broadbent", Steve Brown and Manuel Metzger, also enjoyed a perfect race day at the NLS season highlight: in the morning qualifying session, Metzger set a new annual best time for the BILSTEIN M4 of 8:26.874, which not only secured the team pole position in the SP8T class, but also 25th place overall on the grid. After starting driver Brown only just managed to avoid a GT3 Aston Martin sliding across the track on the first lap, the driver trio impressed with consistently fast lap times after the restart and set the fastest time in the SP8T class on the last lap. In the end, the #150 prevailed admirably against the strong competition, including Le Mans/Toyota legend Kamui Kobayashi, and took a well-deserved class victory.

BLACK FALCON: Fourth victory in sixth race for Kaya, Piana, Stursberg
Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Gabriele Piana and Mike Stursberg scored their fourth win of the season in the CUP2 AM classification of the PETN. Starting driver Piana steered the #103 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup safely through the difficult conditions of the opening phase and was the best-placed CUP2 car in second position overall at times after the restart. After a strong and faultless performance by all three drivers, final driver Kaya crossed the finish line in an impressive 9th place overall. After this success, Kaya and Stursberg only need a second place at the 5th NLS race in October to win the PETN AM Championship for a second time after their first title in 2022.

Second Permit B result for Barst and Schwenk, success for sister car
In the CUP3 class, David Barst and "Nils Schwenk" competed for the second time with a Porsche Cayman GT4 CS (#980) in the reduced-performance "Permit-B" specification. In their second race as part of the BLACK FALCON team, the duo impressed with fast lap times. With their impeccable finish, Barst and Schwenk secured their Nordschleife Permit A and will now be allowed to compete with full engine power from the next race.

The sister car with the starting number 931 took to the grid in the "Permit A" variant and with full power. The two US drivers Ryan Harrison and Tom Roberts performed consistently well throughout the weekend. After seventh place in qualifying in the morning, the pair were able to defend this position against the extremely strong competition in the PETN CUP 3 class and successfully finished the race in seventh place in class with the Porsche Cayman GT4 CS.

Alexander Böhm, Team Principal of BLACK FALCON:
"After the shock on Friday evening, we were able to achieve our best race result since 2019 on Saturday. It felt really good to be back on the overall podium after our withdrawal from works racing at the start of 2020. The fact that we managed to do this with a Porsche Cup car makes the whole thing even better. Of course, some GT3 cars retired before the restart, but you have to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. The drivers and team demonstrated this impressively today. We were particularly pleased with the three class victories and the finish of all seven cars, five from BLACK FALCON and two from our partner team FOUR MOTORS. We would like to thank all the drivers and partners as well as the more than 200 BLACK FALCON guests who successfully kept their fingers crossed for us at the NLS season highlight.

With this success behind us, we can now relax for the summer break before the 5th round of the NLS on 19 October."

On the social media channels of BLACK FALCON you can find continuous updates about the current season: