Klaus Abbelen

Early career

Abbelen's career began in motorcycle racing, rather than cars, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.^[2] He switched to cars towards the turn of the century and participated in the 1999 Ferrari Porsche challenge, finishing second in his class.^[3]

In 2002, Abbelen attempted to run the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, but failed to get in. In 2022, Abbelen placing third overall in the Euro GT Series, and the following year made one appearance in the same series, one in the 2003 Porsche Supercup, and one in the FFSA GT Championship, driving a Porsche 911 for Chateau Sport for two races along with racer Stéphane Ortelli.^[4] The pair would fail to reach podium and would settle for a 41st in the final standings. In 2004, Abbelen ran in the Le Mans Endurance Series, driving a Saleen S7-R for Konrad Motorsport in one race.^[5]

Nürburgring competition

Abbelen was a frequent participant of races at the Nürburgring. He took his first win in the series in 2013 in the fourth round of the VLN Series.^[6] In 2008, he finished on the overall podium at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring for the first time.^[7]

Abbelen's trips to the Nürburgring extended outside of NLS and the 24 hour race. In 2019, he entered the Nürburgring round of ADAC GT Masters.^[8] In 2024, he competed in the Nürburgring round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, his first GTWC start.^[9]

Abbelen announced his retirement ahead of the NLS8 round in the 2025 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie. After suffering an early end to his race with a gearbox issue, he momentarily postponed his retirement to compete in the next round in NLS9. By finishing the race, he became the first GT3 driver to complete an NLS race solo, and finished second in the SP9 Am class.^[10][11]

Other ventures

Abbelen competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time in 2016, racing alongside Patrick Huisman, Sven Müller, Frank Stippler, and his wife Sabine Schmitz.^[12] On race day, the crew finished 12th in the GTD class.

In 2024, Abbelen competed in the full Prototype Cup Germany season, having competed in the Nürburgring rounds in both 2022 and 2023, finishing on the podium in the former.^[13] He drove a Ligier JS P320 alongside Felipe Fernández Laser.^[14] In the final race at the Hockenheimring, Abbelen took his first and only win in the series.^[15]

Abbelen competed in some historic racing events in a Porsche 962 in 2025 and 2026.^[16][17]

Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2002		Edgar Dören Karl-Christian Lück Ernst-Paul Wawer	Porsche 996	A7	128	DNF	DNF
	Besaplast Gate Keeper	Franjo Kovac Kurt Thiim Bobby Carradine	Porsche 996	A7	35	DNF	DNF
2005		Wolfgang Destrée Kersten Jodexnis Marco Merten	Porsche 996	A7	33	DNF	DNF
		Uwe Reich Michael Prym Karl-Christian Lück	Porsche 996	A7	25	DNF	DNF
2006		Sabine Schmitz Andy Bovensiepen Heinz Dieter Schornstein	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP7	87	DNF	DNF
2007	Manthey Racing	Sabine Schmitz Edgar Althoff	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP7	47	DNF	DNF
2008		Sabine Schmitz Edgar Viersen Kenneth Heyer	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP7	145	3rd	3rd
2009	Frikadelli Racing Team	Sabine Schmitz Edgar Althoff Kenneth Heyer	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP7	149	6th	2nd
2010	Frikadelli Racing Team	Sabine Schmitz Edgar Althoff Dieter Schornstein Jr.	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP7	122	DNF	DNF
2011		Sabine Schmitz Tim Bergmeister Niclas Kentenich	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9 GT3	152	9th	6th
2012		Sabine Schmitz Patrick Huisman Christopher Brück	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9 GT3	151	6th	6th
2013		Sabine Schmitz Patrick Huisman Patrick Pilet	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9 GT3	84	16th	12th
2014	Frikadelli Racing Team	Sabine Schmitz Patrick Huisman Patrick Pilet	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9 GT3	41	NC	NC
2015	Frikadelli Racing Team	Frank Kräling Marc Gindorf Connor De Phillippi	Porsche GT Cup America	SP7	143	19th	2nd
2016	Frikadelli Racing Team	Sabine Schmitz Patrick Huisman Norbert Siedler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9	50	DNF	DNF
2017	Frikadelli Racing Team	Sabine Schmitz Andreas Ziegler Alex Müller	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9	152	16th	15th
2019	Frikadelli Racing Team	Alex Müller Robert Renauer Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9 Pro-Am	135	DNF	DNF
2020	Frikadelli Racing Team	Alex Müller Robert Renauer Norbert Siedler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	SP9 Pro-Am	81	NC	NC
2022	Frikadelli Racing Team	Hendrik von Danwitz Ayhancan Güven Julian Harrison	Porsche 992 GT3 Cup	Cup2	62	DNF	DNF

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Complete FIA GT Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2003	Zwaan's Racing	Arjan van der Zwaan Rob van der Zwaan Marc Goossens	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	GT	17	DNF	DNF

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Complete Porsche Supercup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2016	Frikadelli Racing Team	Patrick Huisman Frank Stippler Sabine Schmitz Sven Müller	Porsche 911 GT3 R	GTD	698	27th	12th

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Complete Le Mans Cup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Prototype Cup Germany results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

VLN / Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie results summary

Other racing results summary