Max Verstappen at the Nürburgring: GT3 and Nordschleife Racing

Despite leading the race during the night, his team finished 36th overall following a late-race driveshaft failure.

Max Verstappen, the 28-year-old Dutch and Belgian racing driver, made his highly anticipated official debut at the ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring on May 16–17, 2026. Driving the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, which was operated by Winward Racing, Verstappen shared the wheel with co-drivers Jules Gounon, Dani Juncadella, and Lucas Auer. The event drew a record spectator attendance of 352,000 fans. During the race, Verstappen's team showed dominant pace, leading the field by over 30 seconds during the night. However, their bid for victory ended when a driveshaft failure occurred with 3 hours and 20 minutes remaining while Juncadella was driving. After the team rebuilt the car, they rejoined the track and were initially classified 38th, which was later promoted to 36th in June 2026 following the disqualification of the second-placed #84 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini due to a Balance of Performance (BoP) power output violation.

Long before his 24-hour debut, Verstappen laid the groundwork for his Nordschleife campaign in secrecy. In May 2025, he tested an Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 at the Nürburgring under the pseudonym 'Franz Hermann' to maintain privacy. During this test, he unofficially broke the GT3 lap record on the VLN configuration with a time of approximately 7 minutes and 47 seconds, eclipsing the previous record of 7:49.578 set by Christian Krognes. To officially compete on the legendary track, Verstappen completed a permit course in September 2025, driving a down-tuned Porsche Cayman GT4 during the NLS7 (ADAC ACAS Cup) race to secure his DMSB Permit Nordschleife Grade A.

Verstappen's competitive GT3 race debut came shortly after obtaining his permit. On September 27, 2025, he competed in the NLS9 race, driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 run by Emil Frey Racing. Sharing the car with teammate Chris Lulham, Verstappen secured a victory in the 4-hour race, winning by a margin of 24.496 seconds. This early success proved his immediate adaptability to GT3 machinery on the challenging Nordschleife layout.

The road to the 24-hour race in 2026 was marked by both speed and mechanical misfortune. In March 2026, Verstappen, Juncadella, and Gounon crossed the finish line first to win the NLS2 race (ADAC Barbarossapreis) on the road in their Mercedes-AMG GT3. However, the team was disqualified post-race because they used seven sets of tyres instead of the permitted six. A month later, during the ADAC 24H Qualifiers (Race 2) on April 19, 2026, Verstappen led early in the race, but front splitter damage forced the car into the garage for nearly 30 minutes, resulting in a finish three laps down.