Nürburgring Classic 2026: GP-Strecke and Nordschleife for different races and different cars. Spectacular.

Every year the Nürburgring Classic manages to tell one of the stories behind what made the Grüne Hölle a singular place in automotive history: its ability to welcome profoundly different categories, from Formula 1 and Formula 3 single-seaters through to closed-wheel machinery. The 2026 edition, held from 12 to 14 June, confirmed that vocation once again, bringing together two distinct ways of interpreting the historic automobile: the appeal of regularity runs across the 20.8 kilometres of the Nordschleife and the competitive intensity of circuit racing on the GP-Strecke, demonstrating yet again how the Nürburgring speaks to every kind of enthusiast. The event drew a total of 23,000 spectators across the weekend, reaffirming its position as one of Europe's most important historic motorsport gatherings.
The Nürburgring Classic unites the two souls of the Grüne Hölle with regularity laps on the Nordschleife and circuit competition on the GP-Strecke.
In 2026, as in previous years, the unhurried atmosphere of the paddocks and the opportunity to get close to the cars and the people behind them remained among the aspects most valued by the public. The cars of the Vintage Meeting brought back the atmosphere of the Nürburgring's earliest decades, while the Formula Junior machines of the Trofeo Lurani and the Historic F3 recalled the years when feeder categories represented the true first step towards Formula 1 for the drivers of the era. On the touring car front, machinery from the DTM, DRM, STW and ETCC continued to deliver closely fought races, while the single-seaters of the BOSS GP added a more contemporary dimension through the presence of Formula 1 and GP2 cars — the latter now having returned to its original name of Formula 2.
The public can get close to cars of every era, from closed-wheel machines to the open-wheelers of the Historic F3.
Among the weekend's protagonists were the cars of the so-called Golden Era of touring racing, alongside the many displays organised by clubs and automotive marques. All of this unfolds on the GP-Strecke inaugurated in 1984, which entered the history books immediately thanks to the Mercedes Race of Champions organised for its opening. On that occasion, at the wheel of identical Mercedes 190 E cars, a young Ayrton Senna prevailed ahead of a field of established champions, offering one of the first glimpses of the talent that would make him a legend of Formula 1. (To find out more: https://roarington.com/media-house/stories/the-inauguration-of-the-nuerburgring-gp-in-1984-with-the-race-of-champions).