- Verstappen starts fourth as rivals absorb fresh Balance of Performance penalties.
- Tickets for the 2026 Nürburgring 24h have sold out for the first time in its history.
- Darkness, fog and fan flares added to his list of challenges during qualifying.
Max Verstappen heads into his Nürburgring 24 Hours debut with an unexpected advantage. Race organisers have revised the Balance of Performance (BoP) rules for the GT3 field hours before the start.
They left the Dutchman’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 unchanged while loading extra weight and power cuts onto several rivals.
Verstappen will start fourth on the grid alongside teammates Lucas Auer, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella. The race gets underway at 3 pm local time on Saturday, May 16, at the 12.9-mile Nordschleife circuit in Germany’s Eifel region.
How the BoP changes favour Verstappen
The Balance of Performance system is designed to keep different GT3 cars competitive with each other.
Organisers can update it at any point during a race weekend, and this latest round of changes arrived after all qualifying sessions had concluded.
BMW faces the heaviest burden, picking up 10 additional kilograms. Lamborghini and Porsche must each carry five extra kilograms.
The BMW penalty carries extra significance because the marque is the defending champion, with Kelvin van der Linde among its drivers.
Lamborghini also absorbs a power cut, with its engine restrictor reduced by half a millimetre. The Ford Mustang, which runs a twin-restrictor system, loses one millimetre from its second restrictor.
Verstappen’s Mercedes-AMG receives no changes at all. The same applies to the Aston Martins, Audis, BMW Z4 GT3s, Ferrari and McLaren entries.
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 already carries a minimum weight of 1,355 kilograms, making it one of the heavier cars in the SP9 class. The fresh ballast added to BMW and Lamborghini narrows that gap.
Qualifying sets the stage for a strong challenge
Verstappen’s team earned a front-two-row start through Friday’s knockout-format Top Qualifying sessions.
Juncadella set the car’s best time of 8:12.005 in Top Qualifying 3, placing them fourth on the grid. Verstappen took the wheel for Top Qualifying 2 and recorded 8:11.614, which was good enough for sixth in that session.
Pole position went to Luca Engstler in the No. 84 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, who set a time of 8:11.123. Marco Mapelli in the No. 130 Lamborghini took second, and Christopher Haase qualified third in the No. 16 Audi R8.
Both Lamborghinis at the front now carry additional weight and reduced power heading into the race.
Verstappen faces the Nordschleife’s ultimate test
Verstappen has not arrived here without preparation. He earned his DMSB Permit Nordschleife through test days, written exams and lower-category races before being allowed to compete at this level.
But the Nordschleife still threw something new at him. During Thursday evening’s qualifying session, Verstappen drove the circuit in darkness for the first time, in heavy rain.
Speaking to Viaplay, he described what that was like:
“A lot of rain, so I could barely see with a little bit of fog and vapour coming off the track. Then you just can’t see where there is a lot of water. So you just have to drive slowly.”
He also flagged a hazard that no Formula 1 circuit would ever present. The Eifel forests are filled with fans carrying torches and flares.
Verstappen told Viaplay the glow can resemble a marshal’s signal. “You have to pay attention,” he said. “It just looks like there’s a yellow or green flag.”
He has been direct about the quality of the opposition, too.
“The level is high, it’s super high,” he told ESPN. “Of course, maybe some people don’t know some of the drivers because they’re not so much into GT racing, but there are a lot of really good, even older, like very experienced, drivers.”
A sold-out spectacle as Verstappen eyes victory
Verstappen’s presence has transformed the event commercially. The official Nürburgring account confirmed that weekend tickets for the 2026 race sold out entirely, the first time that has happened in the event’s history.
Organisers cancelled his pre-race driver’s parade and post-race autograph session due to safety concerns over crowd numbers.
His ambitions this weekend leave no room for interpretation. Speaking to PlanetF1 ahead of qualifying, Verstappen said: “Success is winning. I think that’s very simple. That’s why we’re here.”
He has also made clear that this will not be a one-time appearance. In an interview with ESPN in March, he described racing on the Nordschleife as “what real motorsport is like.”
He has since committed to returning annually, saying: “The whole lineup is just really, really cool, and it’s also something for the future that I really want to do every single year, to field a car or multiple cars.”
With the BoP tilted in his favour, a strong grid slot secured and three experienced endurance specialists alongside him, Verstappen enters his first Nürburgring 24 Hours with a genuine shot at winning it.
