Max Verstappen’s audacious bid to win the Nurburgring 24-Hours on his endurance racing debut was cruelly ended in the closing hours of the event when a driveshaft failure on his Ferrari 296 GT3 forced the four-time Formula 1 world champion’s Emil Frey Racing entry into retirement while running at the front of the field.
The Dutchman, racing under his Ray Racing pseudonym after recently securing the GT3 permit required to compete at the 25.378km Nordschleife circuit, had shared driving duties with Chris Lulham, Thierry Vermeulen and Harry King. The quartet had hauled themselves into a commanding position by Sunday morning, only for the mechanical failure to strike with less than four hours remaining on the clock.
Heartbreak in the Eifel mountains
Verstappen had taken the start on Saturday afternoon in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 230,000 spectators, the largest endurance gathering on the European calendar. After early skirmishes with the works Manthey Porsches and the Rowe BMW M4 GT3s, the #31 Ferrari worked its way to the front during a chaotic night session marked by torrential rain across the Hatzenbach and Adenauer Forst sectors.
His double stint in the small hours, when visibility through the Brunnchen compression dropped to a matter of metres, drew praise from rival drivers in the paddock. Lap times in the 8:20s range on a damp circuit underlined why teams had been queueing to sign the 28-year-old since he obtained his Nordschleife permit in a closed-door test earlier this year.
The end came suddenly. Lulham, who had taken over for what was intended to be the penultimate stint, reported a loss of drive exiting Schwedenkreuz and coasted the stricken Ferrari back towards the pits. Mechanics confirmed a broken driveshaft within minutes, an irreparable failure given the regulations governing the closing phase of the race.
A debut that rewrote expectations
Verstappen’s appearance at the Green Hell had divided opinion before a wheel had turned. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner publicly admitted he had been “nervous” about his star driver tackling a circuit that has claimed lives as recently as 2015, while Verstappen’s father Jos was a vocal supporter of the project.
The numbers tell their own story:
- Verstappen completed more than 40 racing laps of the Nordschleife across the weekend
- His best lap of 8:09.4 was within two seconds of the GT3 outright benchmark
- The #31 car led for a cumulative period of more than five hours
- The Ray Racing entry was running second when the driveshaft failed
Compared with previous Formula 1 drivers who have dabbled at the Nordschleife, the pace was striking. Nico Hulkenberg required several years and a works Mercedes seat before winning the race in 2015. Valtteri Bottas, who raced at the Nurburgring in 2023, finished outside the top ten. Verstappen, by contrast, arrived, qualified the Ferrari on the front row of the SP9 class, and was on course for the overall victory until the failure.
What it means going forward
For Emil Frey Racing, the result is a bitter pill. The Swiss outfit had assembled arguably the strongest driver line-up in the GT3 field and a victory would have ended a 14-year wait for the team in the German classic. For Ferrari, the absence of an overall Nurburgring 24-Hours victory in the 296 GT3’s account remains a glaring omission as the model heads towards its fourth season of competition.
The wider significance is for Verstappen himself. The Dutchman has long spoken about a future beyond Formula 1 that takes in Le Mans, the Bathurst 12-Hours and the Spa 24, and his Nurburgring outing has been widely interpreted as the first concrete step on that road. Sources within the paddock suggested before the race that a Le Mans Hypercar deal for 2027 was contingent on a respectable showing in the Eifel; the manner of the retirement, rather than the result, will only strengthen his case.
Verstappen is back in a Red Bull at Imola on Friday for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, where he sits 12 points behind championship leader Lando Norris. Speaking to German broadcaster RTL after climbing from the Ferrari, he was characteristically blunt. “We had the win in our hands. That’s racing at the Nordschleife. I’ll be back.”
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
29 articles published
