ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025: Coverage of the race at the Nürburgring

Summary of the race

The entire program for the youngtimer races under the name ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025 at the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring has started promisingly for everyone. We went to Rhineland-Palatinate almost a week in advance (15. and 16.06.) to first complete the Nordschleife Advanced Trackday (one of the many trackday events) together with our customers. But in doing so, we got to experience the track for ourselves.

ⓘ Trackday events are sports driving courses where we visit and drive around popular European racing circuits such as the Automotodrom Brno, Autodrom Most, Slovakiaring, Nürburgring Nordschleife, etc. As part of the program, we enjoy free driving on the circuit and at the same time we develop the driving skills of our clients to drive faster and safer at the same time. The best option to find your own limits, the limits of your car and at the same time explore different racing circuits.

On Wednesday 18.06. we were already waiting for the first activities on the circuit - drivers' briefing to obtain a license to race with youngtimers on the Nordschleife, a walk through the key sections of the track, familiarization with our race cars. This year it was the legendary BMW M3 E30, which we sat in with the German team Walkenhorst Classic in two teams: Pavel Bouška (CZ; driver of our training program Be A Race Driver) - Richard Gonda (SK) - Tomáš Erdélyi (SK) and Henry Walkenhorst (D) - Robert Šenkýř (CZ).

ⓘ Be A Race Driver is a unique training program for those who want to fulfill their childhood dream of becoming a race car driver. We gradually take you through the same training process as our race drivers, bringing you closer to their level. An ideal opportunity to understand your car perfectly with one-on-one guidance from a team of professionals.

Qualifying: While the car #464 with Bouška (CZ) - Gonda (SK) - Erdélyi (SK) circled the track without any problems and took pole position in its category, the car #463 with Walkenhorst (D) - Šenkýř (CZ) reported technical problems and in the end failed to complete even one fast lap.

Race: But even better results awaited us in Saturday's race when the chequered flag flew. The trio of Bouška - Gonda - Erdélyi did a great job with their stints and the whole challenging race with the BMW M3 E30. They finished 1st in their class and took 55th place overall out of 194 starters. The other team car with the Walkenhorst - Šenkýř crew did not enter the race after two engine failures in both qualifying sessions.

Report from the Nürburgring Nordschleife through the eyes of the Šenkýř Motorsport team

• Sunday 15.06. and Monday 16.06. - First preparations
  • Robert Šenkýř:
    "This year we arrived at the Nordschleife already on Sunday, almost a week before the start of the race. On Monday, we then took our customers through our new Nordschleife Advanced Trackday. This time, however, it wasn't just our clients who rode the North Loop, but we also got to experience the track ourselves a few days before the first hard practice sessions. But now we are fully concentrating and looking forward to the upcoming race weekend. It's a dream to race on the Nordschleife in a BMW M3 E30 - the most successful car in racing history. But with 210 cars at the start and 200,000 spectators in the stands, it will be a race with everything, and we hope we won't be there just to take part. "
• Wednesday 18.06. – Briefing and familiarization with the cars
  • After a short lunch break and a light rest, we headed out onto the Nürburgring track itself and explored some of its key sections. The weather has been good so far - mostly sunny, with a few clouds popping up now and then. And the prospects are similar over the weekend (unlike last year, where we enjoyed the rain to excess).
  • This morning we had a riders briefing to get our license (Permit C) to race youngtimers on the Nordschleife. And now we can slowly start preparing for the race weekend. It officially starts tomorrow at 17:15 with the first practice.
• Thursday 19.06.  – Qualifications 1
  • Today we have car tuning, discussion, checking racing clothes, small things about the team and most importantly, from 5:15 pm the first qualification!!
  • After the drivers briefing, around 700 drivers are here with us.
  • We're about to start our first qualifying session at the Nürburgring Nordschleife🏁. The official start is at 17:15, our starting numbers are 463 and 464. Along with us, 210 other cars are going to Q1, so getting on track is a process.
  • At the start of qualifying, car number #464 runs without any problems. #463 is in the pits as we are solving technical problems.
  • The first qualification of two is over 🏁.
    • 👍 Auto 464 composed of Pavel Bouška - Richard Gonda - Tomáš Erdélyi drove without any problems and finished 1st in its class and 57th out of 206 in the overall qualifying standings.
    • 😞 Unfortunately car 463 had technical problems, which are now being worked on.
• Friday 20.06.  – Qualifications 2
  • The weather is good and the conditions are ideal! ☀️ ️Both of our cars are ready for the second qualifying, we are currently fine-tuning the details!🏁 The 463 has had an engine change🔧, so hopefully today we will be circling the Nürburgring together with the 464.
  • The start of the second qualifying session is here and both crews are ready to leave the pitlane🚦.
    At 10:00 we officially start the two hours of Q2 for the 24H Classic Rennen on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, so there is still plenty of room to go and improve on yesterday's times.
  • Richard Gonda:
    • "A hectic start to Friday. Our car locked brakes after a few meters, luckily we managed to solve it in time. But we still lost half of the practice. I tried to give one full test lap to see if everything was OK, also for the guys to drive later when they are in the car. And yes, when I found out it was OK, I started pushing it and right away there were intermediate times into the top 10. That's good for us. Now the boys are in the car. Huge bad luck on the other car, unfortunately. It looks like an irreparable problem. So keep your fingers crossed and best regards to everyone!"
  • Pavel Bouška:
    • "I was riding a clean bike, but the car is really hard to drive. I'm always looking for the right speed, when I downshift, I slow down too much, it's better to let it go. I had the last lap in my hand. It's a pity we had a shorter practice by half an hour, because if we could have practiced this half hour more I would have felt better for tomorrow. But I'm starting to feel like we're going to make it tomorrow."
  • Tomáš Erdélyi:
    • "Despite the problems at the beginning, which we managed to solve quickly, we started Rišo, then Palo and then me, on the timed laps. The car works perfectly. We had some minor issues from time to time, but the guys fixed them for us, so the team prepared the car perfectly. Except for three oily spots, it was great to drive. Even the traffic on the track was fine. Some one or two overtakes didn't limit us too much, so I'm curious to see what kind of time we managed to set. But I think it's good and we still have a chance."
  • We are reporting from the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a second kvalifikací⏱️.
    • ▶️ Car 464 with the crew Bouška - Gonda - Erdélyi took a few more laps during Q2. The drivers had a final test on the track and got to grips with the car by Saturday's race. But overall it looks good, the car is working perfectly, our lap times were in the top 10 and we feel confident for tomorrow 👍. Our position in the group is still first.
    • ▶️ Car 463 with the Walkenhorst - Shenkier crew is unfortunately held by bad luck. So far it looks like an unfixable problem, but we are trying our best, even if the chances are slim 😞
  • A summary of the situation with car #463 by Robert Šenkýř, as the car will not race on Saturday:
    • "A summary of the race from my point of view, not good. Basically horrible. Because the team probably didn't prepare the engines very well, because the first engine was already knocked yesterday, the connecting rod came out. And a teammate went and he didn't even actually get a lap in, and it was gone. The team did their best this morning, they put a spare engine in, fitted it to the car, and they went to the trouble of doing it, and we wanted to keep fighting.
      
      But within the first lap, another irregularity showed up, this time a gasket under the head. So we had to shut the car down, I basically didn't even sit down. So there are races like this, motorsport is just tough, and this time it happened to us and the Walkenhorst Motorsport team."
• Saturday 21.06. – Race
  • Driver's summary before the start of the race:
    • Gonda:
      • "More than 220 cars lined up for the start here on the Nordschleife. The whole procedure starts. The first thing we have to do is the formation lap - the warm-up lap - which will take about 15-20 minutes, because we're doing the 80. We're soaking up the atmosphere of all the 10,000 spectators that are around the track and that we're looking forward to. And also to drive this BMW M3 E30. We have everything ready and we are well trained with the guys."
    • Bouška:
      • “So there's definitely some nervousness here before the start, but hopefully the car will hold up and we'll finish.”
    • Erdélyi:
      • "So far, the strategy is that Richard starts, then Palo takes over and I bring the car to the finish. So keep your fingers crossed that everything will be fine, we will make it to the finish line in one piece and be as successful as possible."
  • We went out for formation and warmup lap of the race with car 464.
  • The race has started, the order of drivers behind the wheel will be Richard Gonda, Pavel Bouška and finally Tomas Erdélyi.
  • Drivers comments after their stints:
    • Gonda:
      • "So I'm done with the start and run-up of this race. I'm oozing adrenaline, sweat and everything. Besides the fact that it's hot, there's no servo, so you're going to get soaked. The formation lap was long in the first place. It's gonna be hell in there. We ended up moving, I don't know, thirty or forty positions up during the stint. Every corner I was passing some groups. I managed to avoid a lot of accidents. Well, it was interesting. Honestly, neither the GT Open, nor the ADAC, nor the long GT3 race was as thrilling in the early laps as this one here. We've got everything well underway. Pavel's in the car now, Tomas will be in the car at the end. So keep your fingers crossed."
    • Bouška:
      • "It's a complete massacre. I've never seen traffic like this in my life. I struggled with it, I tried to hold on. I don't know how many cars I overtook and how many cars overtook me. I hope I didn't miss any flags or announcements because sometimes I wasn't sure. It's 120, it's not 120. But I think I've managed it somehow. It was really a massacre. I've never had traffic like that at any race before. The crunches... I was overtaking one car here on the home straight, I was faster, he had a slower car on the straight, so I thought - I'll overtake him. But as I was motivated, I was late on the brakes and all four wheels locked up here coming into that turn one. But I managed to get that one in there and I overtook him on the exit at the end. He overtook me on the braking and then I overtook him on the exit. So good. That was a dramatic moment, because I was going sideways, four locked wheels. Other than that, it was pretty good. Now I feel like I could go even faster because after all it took me a while to change gears, sometimes I was looking for the gear anyway, but it was better now."
    • Erdélyi:
      
      • "So we have successfully completed the race. I got into the car third. Of course codes sixty, flags. The clean lap was more or less the last one, but I enjoyed it, it was great. We were overtaking, we were fast, I think we made a good name for ourselves here. No penalties. We really enjoyed it together and we're really happy with the results - first place in the group. So for us it's great."
  • 🏁 The ADAC 24h-Classic at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife was a race full of emotions, tension and maximum determination.
    • The trio of drivers Pavel Bouška - Richard Gonda - Tomas Erdélyi managed their stints and the whole challenging race with BMW M3 E30 perfectly. They finished 1st in their class and took 55th place overall out of 194 starters.
    • The second team car with the crew Henry Walkenhorst - Robert Šenkýř did not enter the race after two engine failures in both qualifying sessions.
  • 🏆 Winners in their class! Pavel Bouška, Richard Gonda and Tomáš Erdélyi took home the trophy for 1st place in their group from the ADAC 24H Classic! 🔥
    • 🤝 Congratulations to the whole crew and we look forward to more successes together under the Šenkýř Motorsport flag!

About the race

This summer, the Šenkýř Motorsport team will once again take part in the ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025 2.5-hour race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, this time under the banner of the collaborating German team Walkenhorst Classic.

• The first team will consist of Henry Walkenhorst (D) + Robert Šenkýř and will be behind the wheel of a BMW M3 E30 2.5l Evo DTM.
• The second team of Pavel Bouška - Richard Gonda - Tomáš Erdélyi will be racing a BMW M3 E30 2.3l Gr.A.

This year, however, in addition to the pursuit of a podium finish, the race will also be in the spirit of the continuation of our “Be a Race Driver” program. The team of experienced drivers from last year's edition was joined by newcomer Pavel Bouška, who will make his racing debut at the Nürburgring this weekend.

In short

More info about ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025

The ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025 is a 2.5-hour race for oldtimers and youngtimers. But that doesn't mean it's just a leisurely ride for a few veterans. This year, in the presence of around 200,000 spectators, 210 classics from BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Volkswagen, Mercedes and other brands will take to the starting straight.

This race is regularly run as a side event as part of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring (one could perhaps say weekend holiday). With a history spanning more than 50 years, it is now one of the iconic endurance races that consistently tests many a driver.

Introducing the riders

Pavel Bouška

Pavel started driving with us four years ago with his Porsche 991T at trackday events in the production car category. In 2022, he tried out the BMW M4 GT4 for the first time and joined our Be a race driver project. He gradually developed into a quality driver in the GTC category. With his current Lamborghini Huracan Supertrofe Evo II, he participates in all our race tests and the Endless Summer program, Carbonia Cup races, and with a racing driver's license, he has already tried out two races of the International Czech Circuit Championship and the Porsche 992 Cup Central Europe races.

Learn more >>

Richard Gonda

According to statistics, the most successful Slovak rider in terms of the number of victories in major international races gained pole position and the highest percentage chance of winning the race. In his career, he won the prestigious Formula F3 Eurocup series and also tried out the special Formula GP2, GP3 and Indy-lights. Since 2017, he has been a pilot in GT3 category races for Šenkýř Motorsport team.

Learn more >>

Robert Senkyr

Two-time European hillclimb champion in the overall classification of touring cars division, multiple champion of the Czech and Slovak Republic in hillclimb and circuit races, long-term official member of the Czech national team and driver with a successful thirty-year racing career. Founder and owner of the Šenkýř Motorsport team, who created the methodology and concept of 1:1 coaching for trackday cars and their drivers.

Learn more >>

Tomas Erdelyi

Tomáš is a driver who has worked his way up from hobby hillclimb races to the top of the licensed races of the Czech and Slovak Republic circuit and hillclimb championship. He also won the FIA ​​CEZ Championship several times. From his first successes with the BMW M3 E36, he has worked his way up to the GT3 category with regular training and diligence, and rightly belongs to the Šenkýř Motorsport coach group.

Learn more >>

+ Henry Walkenhorst (D) 

Henry Walkenhorst is not only a racing driver, but also the founder of the Walkenhorst Motorsport and Walkenhorst Classic racing teams and, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, the owner of a network of BMW showrooms. He only started taking to the grid 15 years ago, but you've already seen him on the podium a few times - either behind the wheel or on the pit wall alongside the engineers. And this year, we joined forces and took to Germany's legendary Nürburgring in his classic BMW M3 E30 with a clear goal: to take the podium.

Videogallery

Photogallery

Live coverage

BMW M3 E30 - Auto 1 & 2 HHR

BMW M3 E30 - Auto 1 HHR

BMW M3 E30 - Auto 2

M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM - Jména jezdců

M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Jména

M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A a M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM

M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A

M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM

Ranní briefing jezdců - společné foto

Ranní briefing jezdců

Přesun z briefingu do teamového stanu

Přidělené úložné místa v našem teamovém stanu

Kontrola tratě

První setkání s auty v teamovém stanu - kokpit

První setkání s auty v teamovém stanu - M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A s Šenkyř Motorport livery

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První setkání s auty v teamovém stanu - BMW M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM s Šenkyř Motorport livery

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IMG_7089

První setkání s auty v teamovém stanu - BMW M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A s Šenkyř Motorport livery

První setkání s auty v teamovém stanu - M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A a M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM s Šenkyř Motorport livery

První setkání s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Pavel Bouška

První setkání s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Pavel Bouška a Richard Gonda

První seznámení s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Tomáš Erdélyi

První seznámení s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Pavel Bouška a Tomáš Erdélyi

První seznámení s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Tomáš Erdélyi

První setkání s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Richard Gonda

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Teamový stan s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Robert Šenkýř

První setkání s autem M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A - Robert Šenkýř

Uzavření středeční přípravy grilováním

Uzavření středeční přípravy grilováním

Postupně se s auty sžíváme, ale skutečný test přijde až odpoledne během kvalifikace v 17:15

Kola BBS, pneumatiky Michelin... To jsou sady pro letošní víkend na Severní smyčce

Robert Šenkýř (CZ) a Henry Walkenhorst (D) s jejich M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM s pořadovým číslem #463

Richard Gonda (SK), Pavel Bouška (CZ) a Tomáš Erdélyi (SK) s jejich BMW M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A s pořadovým číslem #464

Kompletní tým Šenkýř Motorsport a Walkenhorst Motorsport pro letošní ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025

Motorsportová dokonalost ve své ryzí podobě – to je legendární BMW M3 E30

Závodní helmy Roberta Šenkýře a Henryho Walkenhorsta, připravené na odpolední první kvalifikaci

Jdeme se podívat do vyhrazených prostor motorsportového týmu Walkenhorst Motorsport na Nürburgringu

Drivers briefing - pohled na startovní rošt / cílovou rovinku

Drivers briefing po boku dalších zhruba 700 jezdců absolvován

Lanyard pro přístup na pitlane

Technicko-taktická porada před kvalifikací

Technicko-taktická porada před kvalifikací za zavřenými dveřmi

Vystrojení kokpitu M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM z řidičovy strany

Vystrojení kokpitu M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM

Team připraven a čeká na kvalifikaci 1

Čekaní na vjezd na kvalifikaci 1 - M3 E30 2,5l Evo DTM

Plně připraven k první kvalifikaci - M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A

Momentka z fronty ke kvalifikaci

Momentka z fronty ke kvalifikaci

V rámci kvalifikace řešíme technické potíže u auta 463

V rámci startu kvalifikace auto číslo 464 jezdí bez potíží. U 463 v boxech řešíme technické problémy

Atmosféra v kempu okolo tratě ve čtvrtek

Atmosféra v kempu okolo tratě ve čtvrtek

Atmosféra v kempu okolo tratě ve čtvrtek

Pavel Bouška – Richard Gonda – Tomáš Erdélyi po uspěšné kvalifikaci č. 1

Tým z auta 464 rekognoskuje motor auta 463

Auto #463 se nám ve čtvrtek během první kvalifikace trochu zakuckalo, ale teď v pátek už snad bude všechno v pořádku

Kontrolujeme kola a pneumatiky před Q2 závodu ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025

Kontrolujeme nastavení a ladíme detaily na #464 (M3 E30 2,3l Gr.A)

Příprava Richarda Gondy na Q2 ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025

Příprava Tomáše Erdélyi před druhou kvalifikaci ADAC 24H Classic Rennen 2025

Start do druhé kvalifikace blíží, obě posádky jsou připraveny na odjezd z pitlane!

Přípravujeme a ladíme #463 na druhou kvalifikaci závodu youngtimerů na Nürburgring Nordschleife

Tomáš Erdélyi dostáva informace o stavu tratě od Richarda Gondy

Tomáš Erdélyi dostáva informace o stavu tratě od Richarda Gondy

Pavel Bouška a Richard Gonda konzultují pocity z druhé kvalifikace

Pavel Bouška a Richard Gonda konzultují pocity z druhé kvalifikace

Společná analýza záznamu dat z kvalifikace a příprava na zítřejší závod

Strategie pro závod

Technická příprava

Konzultace před pitlane

Atmosféra před nájezdem na pitlane

Tým je připraven

Atmosféra se auty před nájezdem na pitlane

Jsme připraveni na startovní rovince na start

Připraven na warmup lap

První pitstop, R. Gonda dokončil první stint

Jako druhý pojede P. Bouška

Auto 464 protíná cílovou čáru

Závod je úspěšné za námi, spokojený tým v teamové stanu

Press

Live stream

Live timing: https://livetiming.azurewebsites.net/event=50