A successful start to the year for Tim Heinemann:

The 2026 motorsport season starts for Tim Heinemann in January. The former DTM leader of the standings accompanies former professional soccer player Oleksii Kikireshko as a coach in the GT Winter Series. On the former Formula 1 circuit in Estoril, Heinemann also competed with the Ukrainian in the 55-minute "Endurance Race" in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Up2race.

The main focus of the program is on Oleksii Kikireshko's pre-season preparation. As in the previous year, Kikireshko will compete in the ADAC Nürburgring Endurance Series, in which Heinemann already supported him twice last year. He won the two sprint races as a soloist in his class.

The endurance race took place on a damp track and Heinemann was able to mix up the nominally faster GT3 cars with the Cup car. The race developed chaotically with several departures and safety car phases, one of which was in the pit stop window. Since the Porsche completed its mandatory pit stop during this time, the team received a time penalty afterwards. In the end, Heinemann and Kikireshko surprisingly saw the chequered flag first in the overall standings, but were classified sixth due to the penalty. The duo won the class of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars by a commanding margin.

Tim Heinemann (GER):

"This was a very positive weekend for us in Estoril. Oleksii's main focus is on preparing for his NLS season, but we are still looking at the class results. The fact that he was able to win all three races in the class is very important for the championship. I also had a lot of fun competing in the endurance race under the difficult conditions. The fact that I was able to mix up the GT3 cars was cool. And to start the season with a class win is always a great feeling, I hope that I can carry this momentum into the rest of the season!"