Group A in the Dunes Touring Car Legends at Zandvoort

The TOURENWAGEN LEGENDEN at Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix: 42 starters, six classes — and an 82-year-old BMW driver who steals the show from the entire paddock

There are moments when historic motorsport stops being an exhibition. One of them occurred on Saturday evening shortly after 6.10pm on the dune circuit of Zandvoort, when a BMW M3 E30 closed in on a Porsche 911 of the 964 generation. At the wheel of the M3: Harald Grohs, 82 years old, BMW veteran with more than 60 24-hour races to his name. The race ended with a class win — and proof that the Group A era has not become a museum piece.

The setting: the Netherlands’ largest historic weekend

The Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix took place from 19 to 21 June 2026 and is regarded as the largest historic motorsport event in the Netherlands. On the 4.259-kilometre circuit with 14 corners, alongside the TOURENWAGEN LEGENDEN, the field included the Masters Historic Racing series, the Historic Grand Prix Cars, the Formula 2 and Formula 3 Classic Interseries, the F3-500-CC Championship, and the NK HARC 82-90 run by co-organiser HARC, the Dutch club. There were also club parades, regularity runs and a concours.

The organisers and the Circuit had not published an official visitor number for the 2026 edition by the time of writing — unlike, for instance, the Nürburgring Oldtimer Grand Prix, there is no reliable figure here. What is documented, however, is the media impact of the touring car appearance: the series recorded around 138,000 cumulative Instagram and Facebook views related to the weekend, spread across 14 posts — not including the video coverage produced in parallel, for which a five-person production team was on site.

42 starters, six classes — the structure

For the TOURENWAGEN LEGENDEN, Zandvoort was the third of five race weekends in the 2026 season and, after the appearance at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the second major highlight. 42 entrants were registered, and the starting field was fully booked to the last spot. Two sprint races of 25 minutes each were held: Friday at 4.20pm, Saturday at 6.10pm.

The series revised its class structure for the 2026 season. Promoter Thorsten Stadler has aligned classes 1 to 3 consistently with the DTM timeline; classes 4 and 5 are intended for participants who do not own a DTM touring car.

Class	Eligibility	At Zandvoort
Class 1	Original DTM and ITC vehicles from the 1993–1996 and 2000–2009 model years	Only verified originals with documented history. Two Class 1 Mercedes-Benz cars at Zandvoort.
Class 2	DTM touring cars from 1989 up to the final 1992 specification (Evolution era)	Four starters at Zandvoort, class win went to a Dutch duo.
Class 3	Group A touring cars from homologation year 1982 onward, before the Evo models	The BMW class: 635 CSi, M3 with 2.3 litres, 325i E30. Eleven starters — the strongest field of the weekend.
Class 4	Touring cars and select GTs up to 3,300 cc (newly formatted for 2026)	Tailored to, among others, BMW 3 Series with 3,201 cc six-cylinders; also Porsche 964 Carrera Cup.
Class 5	Open class over 3,300 cc, touring cars and GTs	This is where Mike Torwesten’s dp Porsche 935 II turbo competed.
Class 6	Original Porsche Cup vehicles from the 993, 996 and 997 Gen 1 model lines	A dedicated classification for the series’ brand-cup newcomers.

The composition of the field: two V8STAR cars, two Class 1 Mercedes-Benz originals, nine Porsches — and 15 classic Group A touring cars, split between four starters in Class 2 and eleven in Class 3. For a magazine focused on classic BMW model lines, that says what matters: the numerically largest block of the weekend consisted of exactly the cars we write about.

The BMW perspective: why Class 3 is the core

For our readership, Class 3 is the most interesting category in the series. Eligible are Group A touring cars from homologation year 1982 onward — that is, the era before the Evolution models that dominated from 1989. The series names as typical representatives the BMW 635 CSi Coupé, the M3 with 2,300 cc homologated for Group A in 1987, and the BMW 325i E30, alongside sparring partners such as the Rover Vitesse, Opel Kadett GSi 16V and the early Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16.

This is not an arbitrary selection. When the Deutsche Produktionswagen-Meisterschaft — the forerunner of the DTM — made its debut on 11 March 1984 at Zolder in Belgium, the BMW 635 CSi Coupé dominated proceedings. Class 3 recreates exactly that state of affairs, with less elaborately built cars and a correspondingly lower entry barrier. Anyone with a solid E30 or a 635 Coupé can realistically compete here — that is the real appeal.

Also notable is the newly formatted Class 4 up to 3,300 cc for 2026. It was explicitly created with an eye on the market: according to the series, more and more enthusiasts are building BMW 3 Series cars with 3,201 cc six-cylinders, which is why they were given their own, fairly delineated class. For readers considering a race build, this is the most relevant rule change of the year.

Who was on the grid with which BMW

As with almost all historic series, these are predominantly privately run and privately funded entries; there are no classic works teams. Instead, small operating crews and car owners set the tone. The following overview summarises the documented BMW entries — the complete entry list is maintained by the series organiser.

Class	Vehicle	Driver	Team / Entry	Result
Class 3	BMW M3 E30	Harald “Nippel” Grohs (82)	Team Heinz F. Pott, Beckum (reigning champion team)	Race 1: 3rd in class · Race 2: class win
Class 4	BMW M3 E36	Donald Molenaar (NL)	KK Automobile GmbH, car owned by Sven-Maik Krüger	Fastest time in both qualifying sessions · Race 2: 2nd overall
Class 3	Group A touring cars, including several BMWs	various privateers	predominantly privately run entries	Eleven starters; class leader of the season to that point: Christer Simonsen
Class 4	BMW (Class 4 car)	Marcus Weege (AT)	Duller	Did not start at Zandvoort — thereby losing the championship lead

Donald Molenaar: a home game with a statement

The fastest BMW driver of the weekend was a local. Donald Molenaar drove the BMW M3 E36 of KK Automobile GmbH — the car owned by Sven-Maik Krüger — setting the fastest time in the first qualifying session on Friday morning, with a margin of 1.796 seconds. In a sprint format, that is half an eternity.

On Saturday morning, after a thunderstorm brought monsoon-like rain on Friday evening, he repeated the feat on a dried-out track — this time, however, with a margin of just 15 thousandths of a second over Mike Torwesten in the frog-green dp Porsche 935 II turbo. 32 drivers took part in this time hunt. In the second race, Molenaar brought the E36 home in 2nd overall, directly ahead of Torwesten.

Harald Grohs: king of the best agers

The story of the weekend, however, was written by someone else. Harald “Nippel” Grohs, one of the series’ ambassadors, made his first start with the reigning champion team of Heinz F. Pott from Beckum — in the BMW M3 E30 previously driven by Dr Sebastian Haas.

On Friday it was enough for 3rd place in Class 3. Over the course of the weekend, Grohs kept refining the car step by step. In the second race on Saturday evening he then fought a duel with Porsche driver Max Kainzinger in the 964 Carrera Cup — double winner of Class 4 that weekend — and secured the class win in Class 3. At 82 years of age.

One can dismiss this as an anecdote. But one can also read it as what it is: practical proof that a well-built E30 M3 is not a showpiece, but a race car that can still be pushed to the limit even after four decades — if you know how.

The overall standings: Mücke twice

Both sprint races went to Stefan Mücke, the only driver in the field to enjoy a special status. In Friday’s race he fought his way forward from 36th on the grid and clearly took command after ten laps, or 19 race minutes — the car: the Mercedes-Benz C-Class he himself drove in the DTM in 2006. On Saturday he repeated the charge and won again, ahead of Molenaar and Torwesten.

Class 2 went to a Dutch duo. And in the championship after three of five weekends, two Porsche drivers led the standings: Oliver Menzel (54.34 points, Class 5) ahead of Thomas Ardelt (50.7 points, Class 6). The previously leading Austrian BMW driver Marcus Weege from Class 4 dropped to 3rd with 37.5 points after skipping Zandvoort. Christer Simonsen was 4th overall and class leader in Class 3.

What classic BMW drivers can take away from this

• “Pure Group A”: shortly before Zandvoort, the series launched a pilot project exclusively for Group A racing touring cars from 1982 to 1992 — as a starting point for a standalone event format. For owners of a 635 CSi, M3 E30 or 325i, this is the most concrete prospect in years.

• The entry barrier is lower than many think. The credo of Class 3 is explicitly: authentic, grassroots competition for less elaborately built cars.

• Class 4 is the growth class. Anyone building an E36 or E46 with a large six-cylinder finds a well-defined, sporting environment here.

• Zandvoort is an ideal venue for reader trips: dune circuit, short distances, an accessible paddock — and, compared with Formula 1 in August, considerably easier to reach.

Conclusion

For a BMW audience, the TOURENWAGEN LEGENDEN appearance at Zandvoort was more rewarding than the bare results list suggests. The overall wins went to a Mercedes, the championship lead to Porsche drivers — and yet this was a BMW weekend nonetheless. 15 of the 42 starters were classic Group A touring cars, the strongest individual class was the BMW-dominated Class 3, the fastest man in qualifying sat in an M3 E36, and the most emotional moment was delivered by an M3 E30.

One critical point remains: a starting field of 42 cars spread across six classes means that individual classes are thinly populated — four starters in Class 2 is few for a race format. And the new, broadly structured class system does not make the standings any clearer for spectators at the track. Anyone who just watches sees a colourful field; anyone who wants to understand the classification needs the entry list.

Bottom line, though, this is exactly what historic touring car racing should be: not a fully choreographed DTM revival, but genuine racing, carried predominantly by private individuals — with cars one could own oneself.

Outlook

The 2026 TOURENWAGEN LEGENDEN season continues at the Salzburgring (4 to 6 September, as part of the ADAC GT Masters) and at the ADAC Racing Weekend at Hockenheimring (2 to 4 October). The Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix traditionally takes place in June; the date for 2027 had not yet been confirmed at the time of writing.

Sources

Research as of 14 August 2026. Details based on the publications listed below; results without guarantee, official results lists are maintained by the series organiser.

[1] netzwerkeins / Carsten Krome: preview of the Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix, 42 starters in six classes — https://www.netzwerkeins.com/2026/06/17/zandvoort-historic-grand-prix-19-21-06-2026-mit-42-gemeldeten-teilnehmern-das-zweite-grosse-highlight-der-tourenwagen-legenden-saison-08-2026/

[2] netzwerkeins / Carsten Krome: weekend summary and championship standings, “Harald Grohs crowned king of the best agers” — https://www.netzwerkeins.com/2026/06/29/harald-grohs-als-sieger-der-klasse-3-zum-koenig-der-best-ager-gekroent/

[3] TOURENWAGEN LEGENDEN: dates, qualifying and race reports Zandvoort 2026 — https://tourenwagen-legenden.de/termine-2026/

[4] TOURENWAGEN LEGENDEN: 2026 race calendar and class overview — https://tourenwagen-legenden.de/

[5] netzwerkeins / Carsten Krome: new class structure 2026, part 3 — Class 3 (Group A from 1982) — https://www.netzwerkeins.com/2025/11/14/tourenwagen-legenden-saison-08-2026-neue-klassenstruktur-dritter-teil-klasse-3-von-der-deutschen-produktionswagen-meisterschaft-1984-bis-zur-dtm/

[6] netzwerkeins / Carsten Krome: new class structure 2026, part 4 — Class 4 up to 3,300 cc — https://www.netzwerkeins.com/2025/11/12/tourenwagen-legenden-2026-klasse-4-hier-spielt-die-musik/

[7] netzwerkeins / Carsten Krome: double entry Holthoff Car Performance at Zandvoort — https://www.netzwerkeins.com/2026/06/26/doppelter-einsatz-fuer-holthoff-car-performance-hcp/

[8] HARC — programme and race classes of the Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort 2026 — https://harc.nl/en/events/event/5313

[9] Circuit Zandvoort — event information Historic Grand Prix 2026 — https://www.circuitzandvoort.nl/en/events/19-06-2026-historic-grand-prix-2-2/

Bildnachweise

• Lizenziert · Matthew Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0