The championship's organisational roots date to 1977, when several ADAC and Deutscher Motorsport Verband (DMV) motorsport clubs pooled their separate endurance events on the Nürburgring into a coordinated series. Previously each club had staged its own 3.5- to 6-hour touring-car race; unifying the rules and combining the calendar created a stable championship with roughly 150 cars and 400 drivers per event. Prize money was funded by lubricant sponsors Valvoline and later Veedol, which gave the series its informal nickname "Veedol-Cup" for many years.
In 2001 the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund granted the championship official German endurance championship status (Meisterschaft), prompting a rebrand to the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring (BFGLM). That name ran until 2009, when the series adopted the VLN identity — using the initials of the organising body — under which it would become internationally recognised.
Each VLN round was held as a one-day Saturday event to limit costs. After a mandatory drivers' briefing at 07:30 and qualifying from 08:30 to 10:00, the field was split into three rolling-start groups, with the first group flagged away at noon and the others following minutes apart. Most races ran for four hours with a single driver permitted, or up to three co-drivers for selected events; the annual Nürburgring 6 Hours, the season's prestige round, required two to four drivers per entry.
The field was defined by its extraordinary variety. A typical VLN grid covered more than 20 classes simultaneously: VLN production cars (naturally-aspirated and turbocharged categories differentiated by engine displacement), 24h-Special pure race cars including FIA GT3 and GT4 machinery, historic cars from 2008 and earlier, and one-make cup entries such as the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Average grid sizes of over 100 cars per race were common.
The VLN series was intimately connected to the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The championship shared the same rulebook and largely the same competitor pool as the 24-hour classic held in May or June each year. Several weeks either side of the 24-hour date were left open on the VLN calendar, allowing teams to build, repair, and prepare their machinery for the endurance showpiece. Multiple VLN rounds effectively served as qualifying and development events leading into the 24 Hours.
Operating on a 25-kilometre circuit with a field spanning widely disparate performance levels presented inherent safety challenges. Unlike most professional series, the VLN did not use safety cars; instead, double-yellow flags imposed a local 120 km/h speed limit while code-60 flags restricted speed to 60 km/h in the most hazardous zones. Recovery vehicles and course cars would travel around the full circuit under local yellow conditions. Closing speeds between the fastest GT3 cars and the slowest production entries remained a persistent concern given the circuit's many blind crests and corners.
Five drivers died in racing accidents during the championship's history, and two others suffered fatal heart attacks at the wheel during races.
The VLN awarded its main drivers' championship on group positions rather than overall finishing order, a deliberate structure allowing competitors across all performance tiers to contest the title against direct rivals in the same car class. Overall race wins were therefore not the primary points currency, and past champions included drivers of entry-level hatchbacks such as the Renault Clio, Opel Corsa, and Suzuki Swift. A separate overall teams' trophy, the NLS Speed-Trophy, was contested solely on overall results and therefore fell to the fastest GT3 and cup-class machinery.
The VLN identity was retired ahead of the 2021 season, with the championship adopting the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie name starting in 2020. The organising body itself — the Veranstaltergemeinschaft — retained the VLN name, so only the championship title changed. Racing format, class structure, and the deep connection to the Nürburgring 24 Hours all continued under the new branding.