Max Verstappen will line up on the Nurburgring Nordschleife this weekend for his first crack at the legendary ADAC Ravenol 24 Hours, leading a Mercedes-AMG GT3 entry from his own Verstappen Racing squad in the headline SP-9 class.
The four-time Formula 1 world champion shares the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Dani Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer, a four-driver pro lineup pieced together specifically to fight for outright victory in an event that traditionally pulls more than 40 GT3 cars and 160 teams across the combined Nordschleife and Grand Prix circuit.
"One of the biggest races of the year is of course the 24 hours of the Nurburgring, that's why we are here," Verstappen said in the build-up. "We are entering with a pro lineup and with myself in the lineup, that is really cool. It's also something I want to do every single year, with one car or multiple cars. The main objective and goal is to win races."
Verstappen has spent the past 12 months building toward this debut, racking up laps on the Nordschleife in private testing and during the Nurburgring Endurance Series qualifying rounds earlier in the spring. He has spoken at length about the appeal of the 20.832km combined layout, and his pre-race comments left little doubt about what drew him in.
"What inspired me the most is that it's one of the best tracks in the world, or the craziest track in the world, in a good way, that you can race at," he said. "It is one of these special races that you just want to compete in and win."
Qualifying conditions on Wednesday and Thursday were classic Eifel chaos. Verstappen Racing climbed inside the top 10 on dry runs but slipped down the order in a damp Top Qualifying session, where commentators noted the changing weather every 10 minutes and intermittent slow zones broke up nearly every flying lap. Crew chief signals on the live broadcast confirmed an 8m40s benchmark for Verstappen across his early stints, with Maro Engel in the sister Winward Mercedes among those keeping the Dutchman honest.
The SP-9 grid is stacked. Rowe-BMW arrives as the most decorated team of the past decade. Manthey-EMA's Porsches, Frikadelli Audi entries, the Schubert BMW M4 GT3s and Konrad Lamborghini Huracan packages all look genuine threats over the 24-hour distance. Verstappen has been careful not to oversell his chances on debut, but he is undisguised in his enthusiasm for the night-running portion, when the GT3 cars are typically at their fastest.
"It's probably going to be the best feeling [racing in the dark]," Verstappen said. "You're by yourself, pushing in the night. The car is normally fastest in the night, so I'm looking forward to it."
The race starts Saturday at 3pm local time and runs through to Sunday afternoon, with Verstappen splitting roughly six hours of driving with his three teammates across stints, weather windows and the inevitable safety car bunches.
For a champion still inside a busy Formula 1 calendar, the Nurburgring 24 is simultaneously a side project, a long-promised endurance debut, and an unmistakable signal that Verstappen's racing horizons now extend well beyond Sunday afternoon grand prix duty. His goal for the rest of the decade, as he repeated this week, is to be on the Nurburgring entry list "every single year."
---
*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/verstappen-nurburgring-24-hours-debut-2026-mercedes-amg-gt3-verstappen-racing). Visit for full coverage.*
