Nüburgring 24 Hours 2026 Recap
- therookiereporters
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
The 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours took place on the 14th-17th of May. It officially started at 14:00 BST on Saturday May 16th and concluded at 2pm BST on Sunday May 17th, with a load of chaos included throughout.
In the first lap, chaos erupted. Multiple GT3 cars were involved in contact at turn one, forcing a lot of early pit stops and damaging several front running entries immediately after the start of the race. Lamborghini locked out the front row, the #84 and #130 cars started from the front and initially controlled the early phases before Mercedes AMG took over on race pace.
Max Verstappen nearly crashed during one of his opening stints after hitting a bump and running into the grass at high speed, but he somehow kept the Mercedes out of the barriers. As darkness fell and night came, the AMG GT3s proved to be the quickest, with #3 Max Verstappen emerged as the car to be beaten. During the night, Verstappen produced one of the standout stints of the race, making his way through traffic aggressively and taking the overall lead on the Nordschleife. He also made contact with the sister Mercedes driven by Maro Engel whilst fighting for his track position during a tense battle at the front.
There were many unpredictable factors that began to affect the race, issues with mechanics and the weather which started to take lead on the race. As the hours went past, several contenders started to drop back with technical problems, penalties and crash damage, which turned the Nürburgring into a survival battle. Teams were also repeatedly discussing possible rain and changing tyre grip levels, with the conditions varying around different parts of the Nordschliefe throughout the race.
There was a massive late heartbreak for Verstappen's team, as with only a few hours remaining and the #3 Mercedes leading, the car suddenly slowed with a suspected driveshaft failure so it limped back into the pits, overall costing them the lead. After attempting to repair the damage, the #3 Mercedes was officially retired, ending what had looked to be a likely victory on MV3’s Nürburgring debut.
Despite what happened with Verstappen, the sister #80 Mercedes AMG team Ravenol entry inherited the lead and went on to win the race.
Article written by Tayla Leigh
