Verstappen Team Stays in Fight Despite Early Contact Drama

Max Verstappen and Verstappen Racing endured an eventful opening phase of the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours but remained firmly in contention at the front of the field after the first stint.

Mercedes-AMG GT3 driver Dani Juncadella started the #3 car from fourth position and immediately climbed to third after overtaking Christopher Haase’s Audi during the opening stages.

The race quickly turned chaotic when the #99 BMW driven by Dan Harper spun but managed to continue. Further drama followed when polesitter Milko Bortoletti suffered a puncture after slight contact with Juncadella.

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The damage forced the Lamborghini into the pits and promoted Juncadella into second place. However, immediate pressure arrived from Porsche driver Kevin Estre, who made an aggressive start to the endurance classic.

From a technical perspective, the opening phase immediately demonstrated the importance of traffic management and positioning around the Nordschleife. With a layout stretching beyond 25 kilometres and extremely dense multi-class traffic, drivers are constantly forced into aggressive decision-making under rapidly changing grip and visibility conditions.

The #130 Lamborghini driven by Marco Mapelli initially attempted to build a gap at the front despite recently receiving an additional five kilograms through the latest Balance of Performance revision.

However, once traffic began to build during the first stint, Mapelli’s advantage quickly disappeared and created an opportunity for Juncadella to challenge for the lead. The situation instead triggered another moment of contact when Juncadella clipped Mapelli after the race leader slowed in traffic.

As a result of the incident, Juncadella lost two positions. Shortly afterwards, the race complexion changed again when Mapelli received a significant 32-second penalty for a false start.

According to reporting from RacingNews365, Estre also became involved in controversy after forcing a rival off the circuit while fighting aggressively for second position during the opening laps.

By lap five, the leading contenders had begun their first pit-stop cycle. One lap later, Verstappen officially took over the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to complete his first stint of the Nürburgring 24 Hours debut.

With weather conditions continuing to evolve and traffic expected to become increasingly difficult during the night, Verstappen Racing’s hopes of remaining in the leading group are likely to depend heavily on strategy consistency and survival through the extreme conditions of the Nordschleife.