Verstappen's Flawless Drive Leads Mercedes to 1-2 at Nurburgring 24 Hours

Max Verstappen's Masterclass at Nurburgring 24 Hours

Max Verstappen delivered a masterclass performance that has put his team in a strong position to claim a debut victory at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. The #3 Mercedes, shared by Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon, and Lucas Auer, is currently leading the race with a margin of about a second over the #80 AMG, which features Maxime Martin, Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller, and Luca Stolz.

The race has been a wild one so far, with mixed weather conditions typical of the Nordschleife. However, the Verstappen Racing Mercedes has shown impressive consistency, especially as the night stint begins.

The team started the race in fourth place but quickly made progress. On the opening lap, Juncadella took second place by overtaking Christopher Haase (Scherer Audi) before polesitter Mirko Bortolotti suffered a puncture. This incident occurred after the Lamborghini was tagged by the #3 AMG at Turn 2, which Abt boss Martin Tomczyk described as “not acceptable.” However, it was classified as a racing incident.

Things got even more complicated for Abt as its sister Huracan, which started in second place, received a 32-second penalty at the end of the first hour due to a jump start for Marco Mapelli. This allowed Juncadella to finish his stint in third place, having dropped from second to fourth due to traffic issues. Verstappen then took over the Mercedes after 60 minutes, marking a turning point for the team.

Verstappen’s patience and skill were evident as he navigated through traffic before launching attacks on other competitors.

Amid overtaking cars that had yet to pit, having joined the track in 10th place, he overtook Christian Engelhart (Konrad Lamborghini) down the inside of Sabine Schmitz Kurve. Thomas Preining in the Manthey Racing Porsche was next in Verstappen’s sights. After once again overtaking traffic, the Dutchman finally managed to overtake the 911, now driven by Ayhancan Güven, down the inside of Turn 1 while rain began to fall for the first time.

Despite the challenging conditions, Verstappen set lap times that no one could match, allowing him to end his two-hour stint with a 23-second advantage over the Porsche. “Initially I was a bit stuck in traffic,” said Verstappen, “so it was a bit difficult to clear the cars. But once I cleared a few of them and then the weather kicked in with a few laps of slippery conditions, that's I think where we made a difference. And then the car was good. Trying to stay out of trouble, but at the same time you have to push and you have to try and be on the limit, which is always, I think, a difficult compromise to find, but it worked out fine.”

However, Verstappen’s efforts were slightly undermined in the next stint, as Gounon struggled for pace. Estre, who took over from Guven, managed to cut the gap to six seconds within 20 minutes.

Then, the 2024 World Endurance Championship champion encountered an oil spill at Brunnchen, causing the Porsche to spin out almost four hours into the contest.

Although it initially seemed like Verstappen Racing had a significant advantage, other teams soon closed in on Gounon. He was overtaken by three cars in overall contention, including Christian Krognes (Walkenhorst Aston Martin), Schiller, and Connor de Phillippi (Schubert BMW) amid a difficult stint marked by heavier rain.

Thankfully, Verstappen Racing managed to re-overtake the Aston and BMW through strategic pit stops. Gounon’s co-driver Auer then overtook Schiller to give the #3 Mercedes the overall lead again. However, this lead did not last long as Stolz, replacing Schiller, moved past Auer at the end of the seventh hour. Later, Juncadella overtook Auer midway through the ninth hour.

Currently, the Walkenhorst Aston Martin, driven by Nicki Thiim, is in third place. Jens Klingmann (Schubert BMW) and Max Hesse (Rowe BMW) complete the top five.

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