Max Verstappen kicked off his 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours weekend with a solid showing, placing third overall in Thursday’s opening qualifying session after a dramatic two-hour run on the Nordschleife.
The session was red-flagged early after a fiery incident involving two Porsches near the Schumacher S. The No. 900 Black Falcon Team Zimmermann Porsche caught fire, and driver Alexander Hardt got out safely. While he stood trackside, the No. 146 Giti Tires by WS Racing Porsche, driven by Janina Schall, hit the stationary car. Both drivers were unhurt, but the crash led to multiple slow zones and Code 60 periods that broke up running.
Once the track went green, Verstappen showed strong pace in the No. 3 http://Verstappen.com Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. After a couple of installation laps, he returned with just over an hour remaining. His first flying lap came in at 8:47.982, but he quickly dropped it to 8:18.539, briefly topping the timesheets and going more than eight seconds clear of the ROWE Racing entries.
As the session continued, rivals struck back. Fabian Schiller set the fastest time of 8:14.957 in the No. 80 Ravenol Mercedes-AMG GT3. Raffaele Marciello slotted into second for ROWE Racing’s No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, just over three seconds behind. That pushed Verstappen to third, 3.582 seconds off Schiller’s benchmark.
Conditions worsened late on, with rain and light hail falling across parts of the circuit. The weather cut grip and ended any chance of faster laps, forcing teams to switch focus to wet-weather data.
With minutes left, Lucas Auer took over Verstappen’s car to log laps in the wet and gather setup info. Dan Harper ended fourth in the No. 99 ROWE BMW, while Thomas Preining was fifth for Manthey Porsche.
Though Verstappen didn’t finish fastest, his early pace confirmed he and his teammates are in the fight for victory. Thursday’s sessions are mainly preparation for the GT3 field, with Friday’s Top Qualifying deciding the grid for the top SP9 class. Showing speed in both dry and wet, Verstappen remains a serious contender for one of endurance racing’s toughest events.