Max Verstappen Nurburgring Results: Final NLS5 Race times and positions

Credit for photo: Gruppe C — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring

Max Verstappen Nurburgring Results: Final NLS5 Race times and positions

Where Max Verstappen placed at the NLS5 round at the Nurburgring

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 19 April 2026 17:26 Updated: 17:37

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F1 champion Max Verstappen's NLS5 race at the Nurburgring on Sunday (April 19) ended miserably after claiming an early lead in the four-hour event.

It was Ben Green, Christopher Haase, and Alexander Sims who claimed victory in the NLS5 round of the ADAC 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers. The Audi trio from Scherer Sport PHX started the race battling Max Verstappen until the Red Bull F1 driver had to pit with damage, a stroke of bad luck for both Verstappen and his teammate Lucas Auer.

Dennis Marschall (Realize Kondo with Rinaldi-Ferrari) got things underway from pole, after Thierry Vermeulen delivered an impressive Top Qualifying lap. With just one and a half laps completed, Haase (Scherer Sport PHX-Audi) boldly took the lead in Kesselchen, but Verstappen fought back in the Mercedes climbing from fifth to second by passing Marschall, Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche), and Moritz Kranz (Gamota-BMW).

On lap four, the four-time world champion overtook Haase heading towards Schwedenkreuz and took over first place, and in a series of side-by-side duels, consistently outpaced Haase in the Audi.

Verstappen managed to complete his stint a lap ahead of Haase, earning him a pit stop that was 20 seconds shorter, a move that put him back on track with extra time. This advantage allowed the Dutchman to build a half-minute lead over Haase’s teammate, Sims. However, that lead evaporated when Verstappen returned after 38 minutes to discover that his splitter had completely broken off his car.

“We’re not exactly sure how it happened, but the splitter sustained damage,” explained Steve Buschmann to the media, including GPFans. As Winward Racing’s Director of Operations, the team behind Verstappen’s car, he continued: "We decided to bring the car into the garage before the problem worsened. Our plan now is to repair the damage and use the remaining race as a testing session."

Verstappen later told Viaplay, “During the second round of my second stint, I suddenly felt intense vibrations. Soon after, the splitter began to rattle violently, and I realized it had broken off. It was very strange—I didn’t touch anything, so I really have no idea what went wrong. We’ll have to investigate to see where the issue originated."

With Verstappen sidelined by mechanical issues, Haase was able to steer the Audi to a comfortable win alongside Sims and Ben Green. The Brit, Green, took on the final two stints, finishing a remarkable 28.024 seconds ahead of the Red Bull ABT-Lamborghini trio of Bortolotti, Luca Engstler, and Patric Niederhauser.

Auer and Verstappen eventually wound up in P39, as the extensive repairs on the damaged splitter took more than 28 minutes.

Nurburgring Race Results: NLS5 2026

Nurburgring Race Results: NLS5 2026
Position	Car Number	Team	Time/Status
1	16	Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II	—
2	84	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	+28.024
3	911	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo26	+1:14.824
4	80	Mercedes-AMG GT3	+1:17.633
5	99	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	+1:51.352
6	77	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	+1:55.579
7	11	Mercedes-AMG GT3	+2:42.711
8	67	Ford Mustang GT3	+4:24.823
9	26	Mercedes-AMG GT3	+4:33.199
10	123	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo26	+4:36.522
39	3 [Verstappen and Auer]	Mercedes-AMG GT3	—

How to watch Verstappen's Nurburgring race

You can watch Verstappen's GT racing exploits right here on GPFans, check out our live stream below:

VERSTAPPEN NURBURGRING LIVE: NLS5 Schedule, start times and free live streams

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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