Motorsport festival in a class of its own: 45,000 fans celebrate classic racing cars and thrilling races
- The 20th edition of the ADAC Hockenheim Historic continues to fascinate fans
- Record: Around 45,000 visitors experienced pure classic motorsport over three days
- Eleven racing series offered action to enjoy, diverse supporting programme delighted young and old alike
The enthusiasm of motorsport fans for the ‘ADAC Hockenheim Historic – The Jim Clark Revival’ continues unabated. A total of almost 45,000 spectators flocked to the Motodrom for the 20th edition of the classic event in glorious weather. Once again, they experienced a first-class PS festival. The eleven participating racing series offered a broad spectrum of racing cars from almost nine decades that had been driven in a manner befitting their species.
This year, the Jim Clark Revival centred on the 1965 season, now 60 years ago, which was to remain the most successful in the Scot’s career. His second Formula 1 World Championship title was flanked by triumphs in the French and English Formula 2 championships, the Tasman Series held in Australia and New Zealand and the 500 miles of Indianapolis, where the GP star inflicted a painful defeat on the oval elite. However, the ADAC Hockenheim Historic 2025 also remembered Jochen Mass, who had passed away a few days earlier and whose name is also inextricably linked with the history of the Hockenheimring.
‘This year, our thoughts are not only with the namesake of the event, Jim Clark, but also with Jochen Mass. Just a few weeks ago, he wrote the foreword for the ADAC Hockenheim Historic programme booklet, but unfortunately he is no longer with us today. We will honour his memory,’ says Jochen Nerpel, Managing Director of Hockenheim-Ring GmbH.
Most of the many spectators have probably never seen the two racing legends drive live, but the popularity among young fans at the ADAC Hockenheim Historic shows that historic motorsport is a crowd-puller with an upward trend. ‘I am sure that historic motorsport has a great future because it arouses emotions. And that makes me very happy,’ says Anton Werner, who won the first race of the “Touring Car Golden Era” in his Audi 200 quattro.
Although the ADAC Hockenheim Historic is not primarily about the result, the protagonists are not entirely without ambition. Anton Werner struggled with an electrical fault in the second race, which allowed his brand colleague Altfrid Heger to make a solo escape on Sunday. Danish driver Kris Nissen in a BMW M3 E30 finished second in both races. Third place on Saturday went to Yannik Trautwein (BMW 320i E36 STC), who narrowly lost out to Sebastian Asch’s third-placed Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth after a spin in Sunday’s race.
His father Roland in the Mercedes 190E Evo1 sparked a thrilling race to catch up from 29th on the grid and finished tenth in the end. ‘That was so much fun, and the interest of the fans was simply incredible,’ enthused the DTM legend, who has lost none of the petrol in his blood even at the age of 74.
Lots of action with the Formula 1 cars
Other crowd-pullers were once again the Formula 1 cars from the BOSS GP series and the Masters Historic Legends. While the Austrian Ingo Gerstl in the Toro Rosso drove to two unchallenged victories in the BOSS GP and was followed by the Latvian Haralds Slegelmilhs from the German Formula 3 in the Dallara-Gibson V8b from the World Series, the Brits and their cars really got down to business.
Three safety car phases in Sunday’s race proved that the Masters drivers have anything but a Concours d’Elegance in mind. The day before, it was Matthew Wrigley in his Tyrrell 011 who was able to hold off fellow Tyrrell driver Jamie Constable and Irishman Mike Cantillon in the Williams FW08. In the second race, which had to be ended prematurely after Peter Williams’ LEC CRP1 suffered engine failure, Warren Briggs in the McLaren M29 finished ahead of Wrigley and Werner D’Ansembourg in the Brabham BT49. All the racing cars were powered by a V8 Cosworth DFV engine, the most successful engine in Grand Prix history.
In the Masters Endurance Legends, Jamie Constable in the Zytek 04S left his mark on both heats. Second in Heat 2 was Christophe Bouchut, ex-Mercedes driver at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Frenchman drove a Lotus Enso CLM-P1.
Full starting grids
The fans were also thrilled by the various other sports and touring car classes. In particular, the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association, which had an excellent field of 31 vehicles and featured the oldest cars in the field, left many a young fan in awe. As in the previous year, it was a Maserati 6CM from 1937 that secured the title of ‘Senior’ of the event.
The fields in the Lurani Trophy, which saw Marco Werner and Manfredo Rossi each win a Lotus 22, and the ADAC Graf Berghe von Trips Cup were also well-filled. A total of 33 formula cars in various classes competed for the trophy bearing the name of the Rhinelander who was killed in an accident at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Victory in the first round was secured by Luciano Arnold in the Brabham-Cosworth F2 ahead of the Formula 3 cars of Volker Böhm (Dallara-Alfa) and Louis Henkefend (Martini-Toyota) as well as Ralf Goral in the Formula Opel Lotus. On Sunday, the order was: Böhm ahead of Arnold and Goral.
The cars of the DRM Revival, which were separated from the Golden Era touring cars this year due to the enormous number of participants, are always an eye-catcher and an ear-catcher. The first race was a pure Porsche affair on the podium. Daniel Schrey triumphed in the Kremer 935 K3 ahead of Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera and Manfred Niederhof as well as Franz Straub in the De Tomaso Pantera and Wolfgang Kaupp in the Opel Kadett. In race 2, Schrey won ahead of Niederhof and the ‘cadets’ Kaupp and Jonas Remmele. Peter Mücke was unlucky and had to retire on Saturday evening after a piston on his 700 hp Turbo Capri failed in the first race.
Exciting race decisions in the ADAC Prototype Cup Germany
The protagonists of the ADAC Prototype Cup Germany, who contested races 3 and 4 of the season in their LMP3 cars as part of the Jim Clark Revival, bridged the gap to the modern era. In the first race, Valentino Catalano in the Duquene took advantage of a collision between Mikkel Johansen and Matthias Bjerre Jakobsen, who had been leading up to that point, in the very last corner to take victory. Mattis Pluschkell, who was also involved in the incident and spun, still managed to drive his Duquene to the finish line in third place behind Pavel Lefterov’s Ligier. In Sunday’s race, Maksymilian Angelard and partner Pluschkell won ahead of Soufi/Lefterov and Cirelli/Jakobsen.
Expectations exceeded
But it wasn’t just the 4.5-kilometre Grand Prix circuit that offered spectators plenty to see. The special exhibitions on Jim Clark and his companion Kurt Ahrens attracted fans in droves, as did the autograph sessions with favourite driving legends, the numerous sales stands, the slot car track in the Congress Pavilion and the ADAC World of Experience. The action area at the east grandstand was the venue for various attractions and hands-on activities. Visitors were able to try their hand at the e-kart track and the Formula 1 simulator. For the little ones, there was a bobby car track. And car enthusiasts could marvel at hundreds of vintage and classic cars on the brand club grounds.
Overall, the managing directors of Hockenheim-Ring GmbH, Jorn Teske and Jochen Nerpel, once again drew an all-round positive conclusion from the weekend: ‘The ADAC Hockenheim Historic is enjoying steadily growing popularity, so we can once again report a record attendance of 45,000 fans. It is particularly pleasing that historic motorsport appeals to spectators of all age groups and is therefore very promising for the future. The open paddock concept has been well received, as has the colourful supporting programme. As one of the most important classic events, the Hockenheim Historic benefits from the close cooperation with the ADAC, which not only holds the title patronage, but also contributes to the quality and diversity of the event. Our expectations, which were already high due to the strong advance booking, were clearly exceeded not only in terms of visitor numbers, but also with regard to the overall quality of the event. A big thank you to everyone involved – whether organisers, helpers, partners or participants – who contributed to the success with their commitment.’
The next date has already been set: the 21st edition of the three-day motorsport festival will take place from 8 to 10 May 2026.
