Nürburgring 24 Hours, 18 Hour Report: Verstappen leads as new challenger emerges
Max Verstappen on track during the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
The Verstappen Racing team continues to lead at the Nürburgring 24 Hours as the endurance race enters its final quarter.
The #3 Mercedes has led for most of the night, and continues to lead as the morning of the second day has arrived, though a challenger is emerging in the #84 Lamborghini.
Max Verstappen in control at Nordschleife after overnight scare
With Lucas Auer taking over the Verstappen Racing car after Jules Gounon’s double stint the last of the darkness as the sun rose, the Austrian followed suit on the team’s now-established strategy through the race with another double stint.
In the #80 Mercedes, Fabian Schiller was replaced by Luca Stolz to continue the close battle between the two Winward Racing Cars that started some 12 hours ago.
The gap has ebbed and flowed between 10 and 20 seconds through the last few hours, and has fallen to around five seconds with just over six hours to go.
With the established status quo at the front suggesting that the intense battling that saw Maro Engel and Max Verstappen make contact in the two cars has cooled off for the time being, the leaders don’t have to worry much about the cars behind.
In third is the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage that is almost six minutes behind, with the third through fifth positions changing based on the sequence of pitstops.
Also in this battle is the #99 Rowe Racing BMW M4, currently driven by Max Hesse, while fifth is occupied by the pole car, the #84 Lamborghini Huracan being driven by Patric Niederhauser.
The Lamborghini has been recovering from a tough start to the race, with rapid pace in recent hours seeing it quickly rise up the order. With six hours remaining, it poses the greatest threat to Mercedes’ hopes of victory.
Max Verstappen, following his heroics through his first and second stints, is back behind the wheel for what is likely to be a final double stint.
Nürburgring 24 Hours Results: Top 10 after 18 hours
| Pos | Entry | Gap |
| 1 | #3 Winward Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Verstappen Max, Auer Lucas, Gounon Jules, Juncadella Daniel |
LAP 115 |
| 2 | #80 Winward Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Engel Maro, Stolz Luca, Schiller Fabian, Martin Maxime |
+8.675 |
| 3 | #84 Red Bull Team ABT – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 Engstler Luca, Bortolotti Mirko, Niederhauser Patric |
LAP 114 |
| 4 | #81 BMW M Motorsport – BMW M3 Touring 24h Klingmann Jens, de Wilde Ugo, de Phillippi Connor, Verhagen Neil |
+33.044 |
| 5 | #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport – Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO Krognes Christian, Drudi Mattia, Thiim Nicki, Fernadez Laser Felipe |
+37.784 |
| 6 | #99 ROWE RACING – BMW M4 GT3 EVO Harper Daniel, Hesse Max, Van der Linde Sheldon, Vanthoor Dries |
+1:22.862 |
| 7 | #24 Lionspeed GP – Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo26 Heinrich Laurin, Vanthoor Laurens, Feller Ricardo |
+3:35.555 |
| 8 | #54 Dinamic GT SRL – Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo26 Buus Bastian, Christensen Michael Klitgaard, Sturm Joel, Hartog Loek |
+6:54.958 |
| 9 | #48 48 LOSCH MOTORSPORT by Black Falcon – Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo26 Arrow Daan, Assenheimer Patrick, Muller Tobias, Pereira Dylan |
LAP 113 |
| 10 | #26 PROsport racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3 Christodoulou Adam, Lulham Christopher, Grenier Mikael, Bockmann Marek |
+1:32.289 |
View the full results here.
Watch the Nürburgring 24 Hours live stream on PlanetF1.com.
