McLaren Trophy Europe heads to Nürburgring this weekend (29th- 31st August) to kick start the second half of the 2025 season after a two-month break. Over the past two years we’ve had some nail-biting finishes to races at the former German Grand Prix venue. With close battles throughout the field, and across our four categories, we’re expecting more of the same this time out.
The Pro class battle is really hotting up with just four points between the top three cars. Alejandro Geppert and Will Aspin claimed their first win at Spa, dramatically closing the gap at the top of the championship can they do it again?
Jayden Kelly and Michael O’Brien will be the favourites going into the weekend having already racked up three victories this year, however Sam Neser and Josh Mason sit just one point behind them in the standing. Both drivers made their debut in the championship this year and have taken the challenged to seasoned campaigners Michael and Jayden.
Another car to watch out for is the ALM Motorsport entry of Sam Harrison and Leo Karavasili, who missed the opening weekend at Brands Hatch. Despite this, they have claimed four podium finishes and sit 13 points behind in the title battle. After securing two third places and Monza and two second place at Spa, could the top step be next?
Joining the grid for this weekend will be a new entry for Paddock Motorsport. Team owner Matin Plowman will get behind the wheel of the McLaren Trophy EVO for the first time to partner Tom Holland in an all-Pro entry. As a guest entry they won’t be eligible to score points, but they can claim their place on the podium, so they’ll be looking to take some silverware home with them.
Ryan James and Oli Webb have a little more breathing room at the top of the Pro-Am championship standings. After taking two wins at Monza and three third place finishes, they’ve got a 10-point advantage over Eric Behrens and Lukas Sundahl. After a double victory at Spa Eric and Lukas clawed back eight points, so the battle is far from over with four races still left to run.
It's a similar story in the Am class where late entrants Andreas Greiling & Kevin Rohrscheidt have been eating into the early season advantage of class leader Tim Docker. Kevin and Andreas missed the opening two races but have had an impressive run to win three of the last four events. Tim still enjoys a 15-point advantage in his Paddock Motorsport-run car but will be looking for a win to maintain his advantage, so it’s still all up for grabs. As an outside bet you can never rule our Danny Henrey for a podium finish, but we'll also have a new Am class entrant in Rafael Muncharaz. He previously raced a 570S in the championship with SMC Motorsport at Barcelona last year and has shown well in the Super cars Iberian series, so he could be another surprise.
The drivers will have a three-hour test session on Thursday (28th August) to get the cars dialled into the technical, 3.199-mile Grand Prix circuit, ahead of two, one-hour free practice sessions on Friday at 9am and 12:30pm.
Qualifying one will then take place on Saturday at 11:45, following a 15-minute free practice session, with race one starting at 15:55. On Sunday, qualifying two gets underway at 8:35 CEST, followed by race two at 13:25. Both races will be streamed live here