Nurburgring 24 Hours latest: Max Verstappen leads and THREE disqualifications

Verstappen at the Nurburgring — Photo: © IMAGO

Nurburgring 24 Hours

Nurburgring 24 Hours latest: Max Verstappen leads and THREE disqualifications

The very latest after a dramatic night in Germany

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Sunday 17 May 2026 08:50 Updated: 09:54

Max Verstappen and his Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing lead the Nurburgring 24 Hours race after a dramatic night in Germany.

As misfortune struck major rival after major rival, it was Mercedes who moved to the front of the race in the darkness hours with a ruthless display of speed and reliability.

Verstappen himself it was who made the decisive pass shortly after 2am local time, taking over at the front from the Mercedes sister Team Ravenol.

Verstappen and Mercedes in control

Dani Juncadella, Verstappen, Jules Gounon, and Lucas Auer have been working double stints and Verstappen took the wheel for his latest stint at around 0850 local time (0750 UK) with just over six hours remaining to the finish.

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Although much can still happen in the final decisive hours, they appear to have the race under control - holding a roughly 20-second lead over team-mates Maro Engel, Maxime Martin, Fabian Schiller, and Luca Stolz.

Meanwhile, the fight for the last podium slot is heating up between the 34-Walkenhorst-Aston Martin, the 99-ROWE-BMW, and the BMW M3 Touring 24H from the SP-X class.

WATCH LIVE: Nurburgring 24 Hours: Verstappen bids for victory

Multiple GT3 contenders crash and three disqualifications

While so far it has been smooth sailing for Verstappen and his team-mates, it has been a very different story for their major rivals.

Mirko Bortolotti started from pole, but the 84-Red Bull ABT-Lamborghini suffered a puncture after colliding with Juncadella in the opening corner. The team has since battled back into sixth place with the fastest car in the race.

The 130-Schaeffler-Lamborghini was in the lead until Marco Mapelli was penalized for a false start. Later in the evening, Nick Yelloly experienced a puncture and brushed the wall at Flugplatz. He now finds himself, alongside Nicky Catsburg, further down in the top 20.

Tom Coronel was behind the wheel of both GT3-Audi entries in the AT1 class, though trouble hit when Dominik Fugel slammed into the guardrail at Schwedenkreuz after a puncture, while his teammate struggled with clutch issues.

Thierry Vermeulen had been leading with two hours remaining until a collision with the 45-Realize Kondo-Ferrari occurred when he narrowly avoided a Cayman near Hatzenbach.

The 7-Konrad-Lamborghini enjoyed a lengthy stint in the top five until they lost ten crucial minutes in the pits due to power steering problems. Pavel Lefterov also incurred damage at Hatzenbach during the night.

The 47-KCMG-Mercedes-AMG and the 16-Scherer Sport PHX-Audi were among the top GT3 favorites until Alexander Sims collided with Jesse Krohn at Pflanzgarten amidst confusion over Code 60 zones and green flag periods.

Manthey, one of the most successful teams in the history of the Nürburgring 24h alongside Scherer Sport PHX, crashed at Brünnchen after just four hours. Kévin Estre lost control of the Grello-Porsche on oil from the Four Motors-Porsche Cup car in the AT2 class, and just minutes later, Arjun Maini in the 64-Haupt-Mustang also hit the barriers. Michele Di Martino in the 33-Krämer-Audi later visited the wall at Brünnchen as well.

ROWE Racing’s number-one BMW was unable to defend its lead after fuel tank problems forced an early retirement for the night.

Morris Schuring was pushing hard for a top-five finish but crashed around midnight at Flugplatz. The Dutch driver in the 44-Falken-Porsche tried to avoid the Saugmotoren-Z4, only to hit a curb and cannon into the wall.

Harry King holds second in the Pro-Am class, although the 86-High Class-Porsche lost 15 minutes after spinning out in the gravel on the Grand Prix circuit. The 65-Haupt-Mustang, driven in part by rising Dutch talent Colin Caresani, was performing strongly in Pro-Am until teammate David Schumacher retired at Kesselchen.

Mex Jansen, another promising Dutch talent in the GT3 Pro-Am class, was having a solid race for Walkenhorst Motorsport until his Aston Martin was rear-ended while braking for a slow zone.

The biggest night-time incident came courtesy of Alessio Picariello in the 17-Dunlop-Porsche. Attempting to challenge a Porsche Cup car as he braked for Bergwerk, he lost control at high speed and hit the guardrails hard. Miraculously, the Belgian escaped with only minor injuries.

At dawn, oil appeared suddenly on the track at Aremberg, leading to a dramatic crash for the leader in the BMW M2 Racing class. Several cars slid through the gravel trap, including Dan Harper from P3 and Jens Klingmann from P4, but both emerged unscathed. Unfortunately, Frédéric Vervisch was not as lucky; his 67-Haupt-Mustang from P7 sustained damage to a wheel.

The 11-Schnitzelalm-Mercedes-AMG quietly climbed into the overall top ten and was second in GT3 Pro-Am before dropping out, likely due to a blown engine. Philip Ellis even spun on his own oil.

Guido Dumarey narrowly escaped disaster on the Döttinger Höhe after suffering a high-speed puncture in the 37-PROsport-Aston Martin.

Three drivers have now been disqualified and lost their licenses for excessive speed in Code 60 zones, along with subsequent DMSB penalty points. The culprits are Grégoire Boutonnet in the 652-Adrenalin-BMW M240i, Jarno D'Hauw in the 658-BMW M240i, and former F1 driver Timo Glock in the 69-Dörr-McLaren.

You can watch every second of the remaining action with our free live stream.

NURBURGRING RESULTS: Verstappen final placing, times and more

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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