It’s the news that a thousand Facebook posters have been waiting for; the 2022 Nürburgring Nordschleife public dates have been released at last.
Stickers, Ts, Hoodies...
All of the dates are accessible through the official Nürburgring website here, and there’s more to digest here than you might think. Nestled within the seemingly endless dates are a few nuggets of information that might change the way you drive the Nordschleife in 2022.
Early starts to resume at the ‘Ring?
First of all, there’s the potential bombshell that the traditional 0800 start might be making a return ( that’s 8am for you none-24hr types). I say ‘potential’ because this time last year the calendar also said 0800 start times for Saturday and Sunday TF sessions, but as we all know, the track actually opened at a leisurely 0900 on weekends. The COVID-era 9am start has been a blessing for us in the Nürburgring car rental business, with our previous 0600 start times being pushed back by an hour. But also, those first few ‘quiet’ laps have been sorely missed by many locals.
I’ve sent a messenger pigeon over to the ‘Ring HQ building, and if it’s not eaten, and it returns with more information, I’ll let you all know.
Easter is going to be HUGE
This year the celebration of a bloke who may-or-may-not have rolled a rock from in front of his cave is relatively late in the calendar. And in respect of Schrödinger’s Messiah, the powers-that-be have gifted us a MASSIVE FOUR FULL DAYS of #touristenfahrten starting at 10am on “Kar Freitag” and finishing at 1900 on Easter Monday. At which point, we take over the Nordschleife for TWO FULL DAYS of BTG/Circuit Days trackday, lest you forget!
May is spotty, but June is green.
There’s a lot of red in the May 2022 calendar, as the Nordschleife is closed for many events. Not least of them is the 2022 Nurburgring 24-hour race, which dominates the end of the month with an 8-day streak of closures. At the start of the month Scuderia Hanseat take a couple of evenings, and the N24 Qualifier Race takes a long weekend as well. But to make up for all that disappointment, we’ve got almost the whole month of June to play with. And in the middle of June (17th, 18th and 19th) we have three full days of “Green Hell Driving Days.
August is lit, September is for racing, October is almost the end.
It’s a similar story near the end of the year too, with August being very heavily geared towards public dates through the whole summer holiday, whereas September is host to more than a few races.
As per usual, the season slows significantly in October, with mid-week TF evening sessions making way for a later Industrie Pool program on October 17th. That means the last mid-week evening session is scheduled for Friday 14th October.
Also as usual, expect a few hiccups in the calendar, especially if Viktor and his mates want to play. I’ll do my best to keep you informed if that happens!
