Emely de Heus fights back at Norisring, gains five spots in Race 2

Emely de Heus continued her learning-oriented rookie Porsche Carrera Cup Germany campaign at the fourth round of the season at the Norisring, where she bounced back from an unlucky retirement in Race 1 to gain five positions and finish P23 in Race 2.

Photo credits: Porsche AG

Emely de Heus continued her learning-oriented rookie Porsche Carrera Cup Germany campaign at the fourth round of the season at the Norisring, where she bounced back from an unlucky retirement in Race 1 to gain five positions and finish P23 in Race 2.

The Dutch racer, driving for ID Racing, is the first woman in over a decade to contest a full season in the championship and is steadily building experience and pace in one of the world’s most competitive one-make GT series.

Having transitioned to GT racing this year after several seasons in single-seaters—including Spanish F4, W Series, and F1 Academy in 2023 and 2024—De Heus joined the Porsche Talent Pool and has been racing the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car for the first time in 2025. After showing promise on her debut at Imola, battling for a rookie podium at Spa, and achieving her best result to date with a rookie class podium and top-20 overall finish at her home race in Zandvoort, the 22-year-old faced a new challenge at the iconic Norisring.

The historic street circuit, located in the heart of Nuremberg, is known for fast straights, unforgiving concrete walls, and heavy braking zones. With minimal room for error, the Norisring is certainly a test of driver’s precision and confidence—and for De Heus, it marked another first in her learning year, despite having previously raced on street circuits in both W Series and F1 Academy, primarily at Miami, Singapore and Jeddah.

Supporting the DTM weekend, the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany field featured 29 cars, with extremely tight lap times across the board. De Heus began the weekend with a positive outing in free practice, clocking a best time of 51.975 to go P23—just over a second off the overall leader, Robert De Haan, and close to the midfield in a tightly packed field.

She contested Group 1 in both qualifying sessions: in Q1, she set a 52.449 and placed P15 in her group, with slightly faster times posted in Group 2. In Q2, she improved by three tenths to 52.118, once again taking P15 in group.

Starting Race 1 from P29 on the grid, De Heus made a clean getaway and immediately began to climb the order. She moved into P28 after Nils Spreng spun on lap 2, then overtook her ID Racing teammate Sebastian Langer at Turn 1 the following lap to move into P27. Continuing to build confidence, she improved her sector times lap after lap, dipping three tenths below her qualifying pace.

By lap 11, De Heus had climbed to P26 and was on a strong run when she lost the rear of her car at Turn 3 and spun. While she avoided contact with the walls and with following traffic, she couldn't engage the reverse gear and was unable to rejoin. The incident brought out the safety car, and her race came to a premature end—an unfortunate outcome after a promising start to her Norisring debut.

Returning to the track on Sunday morning for Race 2, De Heus lined up P28 and was determined to bounce back. She got a clean launch and once again found herself battling with teammate Langer through the Turn 1 hairpin and across the opening laps. Sticking close and trading positions, she eventually completed a clean overtake on lap 9 and began pulling away.

Continuing her momentum, De Heus moved into P26 when Daniel Gregor went wide into Turn 1 and pitted with damage. On lap 13, front-runner Flynt Schuring also pitted following a massive lock-up, promoting De Heus to P25. A spin from Ahmed Alkhoori gave her another opportunity, and she capitalised to take P24, running consistent laps in the 52.0 range.

De Heus’ pace continued to improve as she reduced the gap to Kai Pfister ahead, and she was rewarded with another gain when a clash between Target teammates resulted in damage for Alexander Tauscher. With that, she advanced to P23 and held her ground to the chequered flag, executing a clean, solid recovery drive.

Learning from setbacks and turning them into progress, Emely de Heus now looks ahead to the fifth round of the season at the Nürburgring on 8–10 August, where she will aim to shorten the gaps to the front and continue her first year in GT racing.