Max Verstappen sat four seconds clear of his own teammate with twelve hours still to run at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. The four-time Formula 1 world champion turned his first-ever night stint in endurance racing into a masterclass around the most unforgiving circuit on Earth.
The No. 3 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO and the No. 80 sister car have pulled nearly five minutes clear of third place at the halfway mark of the 2026 edition. It is a stunning display of team dominance at an event that routinely devours favorites before sunrise.
Verstappen climbed back into the No. 3 car to relieve Daniel Juncadella, who had kept the Mercedes glued to the tail of Maro Engel’s leading No. 80 through much of the second quarter. Verstappen was not interested in sitting behind his teammate. Forty seconds into the twelfth hour, he made his move.
Engel did not simply hand it over. The veteran counterattacked after Verstappen’s first pass, and the two made contact. When slower traffic compressed the gap between them, Verstappen held the racing line, pushing Engel onto the grass. Engel kept it out of the barriers and held second.
No hard feelings, apparently. “I had a good double stint,” Engel told Radio Le Mans afterward. “Our cars drive well and I had a lot of fun with Max.” That is the kind of diplomatic understatement that comes from a driver who knows his car is fast enough not to sweat a teammate’s aggression.
The rest of the field is already in damage-control mode. The defending race winner, ROWE Racing’s No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, retired in the ninth hour with a fuel tank problem. The Manthey Porsche No. 911 is also out after Kevin Estre slid through an oil spill. Last year’s one-two finishers gone before midnight.
Third place belongs to Mattia Drudi in the No. 34 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, who inherited the position when Dries Vanthoor passed Sheldon Van der Linde’s No. 99 BMW shortly before the halfway mark. They are nearly five minutes adrift of the silver arrows.
The wildcard story remains BMW’s M3 Touring 24H, the No. 81 entry that qualified fifth and has been running among the full GT3 machinery all race. Connor de Phillippi had the wagon as high as second when both Winward cars pitted simultaneously in the ninth hour. At the halfway mark, it sits fifth overall and leads the SP-X class as the last car on the lead lap.
A station wagon mixing it with purpose-built race cars at the sharp end of the Nürburgring 24 is exactly the kind of absurdity the Nordschleife was built for.
After the halfway pit cycle, only ten SP9 cars remain on the lead lap, and just 25 of the 41 starters are still circulating. The Green Hell has already claimed sixteen entries. Twelve hours is a long time left to run around 15.7 miles of elevation changes, blind crests, and Armco barriers that punish the smallest miscalculation.
Verstappen came to the Nordschleife having dominated the race virtually in sim racing. The real thing is messier, darker, and far less forgiving. So far, the gap between his digital experience and the physical one looks disturbingly small.
The two Winward Mercedes cars still need to survive the coldest, most treacherous hours of the race. Dawn at the Nürburgring has ended more sure things than anyone can count. But with both main rivals already in the garage and a five-minute cushion over third, this is Verstappen’s race to lose.
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