0
0
Verstappen produces excellent debut as Bortolotti’s brilliant drive banks second for Red Bull Team ABT.
Max Verstappen produced spells of excellent driving both day and night during his ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring debut in Germany as he extended the race lead in the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 car he shared with three other drivers before a late driveshaft problem cost them victory – Mirko Bortolotti bringing the Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini home in a superb second place. Rolling story below:
FINISH
– Verstappen’s stints in the car throughout the race were crucial in both taking and extending the lead for the majority of the race, something that underlines how masterful the Dutchman is across so many different disciplines of driving.
– The 28-year-old had an early scare in his first GT3 class stint when he went onto the grass, but he responded with day and night spells of brilliant overtakes and focused driving in one of endurance racing’s most demanding challenges.
– A fixed #3 car went out near the end for the final lap with Juncadella in the cockpit to thank the fans for showing up in a sold-out weekend on the back of Verstappen’s much hyped involvement.
– Reflecting on having Verstappen as a teammate, Auer revealed: “It’s definitely better to have him as a teammate because he is just a machine. He’s a lot of fun, a hard worker and has amazing speed.”
– The drama up front went right down to the wire as Italian Bortolotti needed to drive as fast as possible in the final rain stint to overcome a time penalty, after their race started with a puncture that put them on the back foot from the first Saturday hour.
– He weaved around cars superbly as the clock ticked down to bring the #84 car he shared with German Luca Engstler and Swiss Patric Niederhauser home in second spot behind the #80 Mercedes-AMG GT3 winner of German drivers Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz along with Belgium’s Maxime Martin.
– After coming back from 14th place to bank second by the finish, Engstler declared: “It was an incredible week. We had a very good qualifying, starting front row, and then we had a horrible start, got taken out, and we had the puncture, and we were two and a half minutes down. We dropped back to about nine minutes behind the leader. But I never gave up, and in the end, we’re here, and that’s just insane.”
AFTER 22 HOURS
– With the #3 car leading the race by around five minutes with less than four hours to go, their excellent progress came to a halt after a mechanical problem. Juncadella received an ABS alarm, but believed he could manage it well and stayed out.
– Unfortunately “noises and vibrations” started to occur in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 car and, after two further laps, Juncadella began to slow down and he drove into the pits where a driveshaft problem was found to be the fault.
– Mercedes customer racing boss Stefan WendlWendl revealed: “We’ve spoken to Max, we’ve spoken to the other drivers, and of course, everyone is mega disappointed, especially after fighting for the lead for so long but we’ve decided that we are going to fix the car and go back out for the final laps to present it to the fans.”
AFTER 18 HOURS
– The overnight stretch of the iconic endurance race was a chance for car #3 to open up a gap from their immediate challenger sister car and so it proved. Around 1.30am local time, Verstappen overtook Maro Engel for the lead which saw the German take to the grass before resuming behind as the Dutchman did a gutsy double stint.
– After handing over to Jules Gounon first and then Lucas Auer, the quartet eked out a lead of 15 seconds with eight hours left, which car #80 cut down to 12 seconds with six hours left as Verstappen had the wheel back again for the crucial morning stint.
AFTER NINE HOURS
– The #3 car including Verstappen has been in the outright lead or mere seconds behind the lead for the first nine hours of the exciting 2026 race as Juncadella took over from Auer in the spell up to and past midnight in Germany going full tilt up against main rivals #80, who are also racing a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
AFTER SIX HOURS
– After taking the lead on the back of a classy double stint – which saw him complete some thrilling overtakes – Verstappen handed over to Gounon who let the lead slip to drop down to third.
– Auer, though, took over the wheel next up finally and the Austrian promptly retook a narrow lead with a brilliant spell of driving after six hours on the track.
AFTER THREE HOURS
– The first few laps proved tricky for Juncadella as he initially jumped up to second then slid back down the order amongst the opening chaos and car contact, however he hit back well to hand over to Verstappen in third spot after his hour stint.
– The Dutchman took over for his first stint and overcame an early scare when he hit a bump on the track, slid onto the grass and recovered, then he settled into an impressive rhythm to move up the order into first spot by the three-hour mark.
START
– Known for his versatility across different machinery, Verstappen’s car started the 2026 race from P4, after co-driver Juncadella – who started on Saturday – set a lap of 8:12.005 in Top Qualifying 3 on Friday for Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing with German Luca Engstler on pole in the #84 Lamborghini Red Bull Team ABT.
PRE-RACE NEWS
– April’s ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring qualifying weekend saw the Mercedes-AMG GT3 break the nine-minute mark in qualifying before Verstappen led the field in the four-hour race that followed for the opening 90 minutes before a splitter issue dropped the team down the order.
– Last month, he also tested himself at Fuji Speedway, where he climbed into a GT500 car in heavy rain for the first time and, on only his second flying lap, beat the lap time of experienced Super GT driver Atsushi Miyake (1:42.290 against 1:44.075).
– Now the four-time F1 world champion battles with a deep field of GT veterans on his 24H Nürburgring debut with Juncadella, Auer and Gounon in the team’s distinctive blue-and-red Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
– He started out the week by confirming his place with a third-fastest run in Thursday’s timed session as he took to the Nordschleife in the dark for the first time, heavy rain making for treacherous conditions on a circuit already known as the ‘Green Hell’.
– He said: “It was my first time driving in the night. It was probably the worst conditions that you could hope for, but it was good for me, for my eyes, to get used to the darkness. The car has felt good the whole time we’ve been driving here. We have a lot of competition, which in general is great for everyone. But it’s been fun.”
– The 28-year-old then banked sixth fastest in Top Qualifying 2 on Friday as his participation attracted big global exposure – weekend passes selling out for the first time in the event’s history.
– In terms of what he feels he needs to shine on his debut, he revealed: “Staying out of trouble. You don’t want to pick up any kind of damage early on. You want to keep the car in one piece, and also make the difference in the traffic. And then it’s between the drivers, keeping good information in case there is the changing weather. Keeping the car on track, and then trying to maximise the pace.”
– Spanish co-driver Juncadella, 35, added: “It was a very good day. You always want to be on pole, but P4 is a great starting position for what is a very long race.”
– Austrian co-driver Auer, 31, declared: “We have no safety cars here, so whatever you lose, you really lose. You cannot gain back just by pure speed. So, I believe we found a very solid base.”
– Meanwhile polesitter Engstler, 26, admitted: “I think the key was to leave the brain in the garage, and go full send. I was just trying to squeeze every bit out, and in the end, it worked out.”
– The 54th edition of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring started at 15:00 CEST on Saturday May 16. Watch live on Red Bull TV and Verstappen’s onboard view on the Red Bull Motorsports YouTube channel.
