One weekend, two continents, three events and our KW Racing suspension systems right in the middle of it all. While the 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers completed their second round on the Nordschleife, our motorsport customers simultaneously delivered strong performances at the FIA WEC season opener in Imola and the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint in Long Beach.

With the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, the BMW M4 GT3 EVO and the Porsche 911 GT3 R, all equipped with KW V6 Racing dampers – as well as the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 with the KW V7 Racing, our customer teams achieved top positions one after another.

24h Nürburgring Qualifiers – Overall classification with several KW customers in the Top 10

From 17 to 19 April 2026, the Nürburgring Nordschleife once again became the venue for the toughest motorsport prologue in the world: the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring Qualifiers. 122 race cars lined up for the first race on Saturday, 55 percent of them fitted with our KW Racing kits.

Unfortunately, the Nürburgring Nordschleife showed its dangerous side. In the Klostertal section, operating fluids on the track caused a mass collision involving seven vehicles. Tragically, long-time racer and Nordschleife veteran Juha Miettinen was seriously injured in his BMW 325i (#121) and passed away in the Medical Center. He was only 66 years old.

The race was red-flagged and will not be counted; the motorsport world is in mourning. We too would like to express our deepest sympathy and condolences to Juha Miettinen’s family, friends and colleagues. We can hardly believe it. Rest in peace.

108 vehicles then started Race 2 on Sunday, including a record 37 GT3 cars in the SP9 top class alone. For our KW Racing customers the race went according to plan, even though many were still thinking of other things.

Manthey Racing secured 3rd place overall with the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#911). Thomas Preining and Matt Campbell kept “Grello” consistently at the front on the demanding 25.378-kilometre circuit and earned a place on the winner’s podium.

5th overall went to ROWE Racing with the BMW M4 GT3 Evo (#99): Max Hesse, Jordan Pepper and Kelvin van der Linde delivered a strong team performance over the four-hour race.

6th place also went to a BMW M4 GT3 Evo: Schubert Motorsport (#77) with Charles Weerts and Ugo de Wilde, just 4.2 seconds behind their sister car.

7th overall was taken by BMW M Motorsport (#81) with the BMW M3 Touring 24h in the SPX class. Jens Klingmann, Connor de Phillippi and Neil Verhagen once again demonstrated what the Touring car with GT3 technology under the hood and a KW V6 Racing suspension system is capable of on the Nordschleife.

FIA WEC 6 Hours of Imola – LMGT3 class: Class win and Top 10 at the WEC season opener

At the same time in Imola, with over 92,000 fans on site, the FIA World Endurance Championship kicked off the 2026 season. As in IMSA, the field consists of prototype sports cars (Hypercars in WEC terminology) and GT3 race cars in the LMGT3 class.

In the LMGT3 class our KW Racing customers also made headlines: 1st place in LMGT3 went to Team WRT with the BMW M4 GT3 Evo (#69).

The LMGT3 class win was shared by the three BMW drivers Alex McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper, who crossed the finish line with the narrowest of margins ahead of the second-placed TF Sport Corvette.

3rd and 4th places were taken by the Porsche 911 GT3 R (#92 and #91) from Manthey. The Porsche entered as “The Bend Manthey” (#92) was driven by Richard Lietz, Yasser Shahin and Riccardo Perra. In the “Manthey DK Engineering” Porsche, DTM champion Ayhancan Güven, Timur Boguslavskiy and James Cottingham took turns.

5th place in the LMGT3 class also went to Team WRT, this time with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO (#32): Dennis Leung, Sean Gelael and Augusto Farfus completed a strong double result for the BMW racing team in the World Championship.

9th place in the LMGT3 class was secured by Heart of Racing Team with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (#23). Gray Newell, Kobe Pauwels and Jonny Adam took turns at the wheel of the Aston and drove reliably into the points.

IMSA WeatherTech Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – GTD class: Podium for BMW on the street circuit

Leaving Europe behind, we now turn to North America, specifically the Los Angeles metropolitan area in California. On 18 April 2026 the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship visited Long Beach.

In the slipstream of the GTP prototypes, 17 GTD cars (GT3 race cars) completed the 100-minute sprint through the narrow city streets. Important note: the GTD Pro class was not on the grid for the Long Beach sprint. All GT3 vehicles, including the regular GTD-Pro entries, competed together in the GTD class for this race.

2nd place in the GTD class was taken by Turner Motorsport with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO (#96): Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished in a thrilling battle just behind the winning Vasser Sullivan Lexus.

A well-deserved podium finish for the M4 with KW V6 Racing dampers on the challenging street circuit.

8th place in the GTD class went to van der Steur Racing with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (#19): Rory van der Steur and Valentin Hasse Clot brought the Aston Martin safely to the finish.

10th place in the GTD class was achieved by Heart of Racing Team with the second Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (#27): Eduardo Barrichello and Spencer Pumpelly delivered another solid result for the team, which was also racing at the same time in the WEC event in Imola.

Pfaff Motorsports also brought the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 (#46, Andrea Caldarelli / Zachary Vanier) to the street circuit and finished 14th.

Photos Gruppe C Photography, BMW (Nick Dungan / Drew Gibson Photography), Porsche, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Teams