Verstappen Leads 24h Nurburgring Debut as Team Starts Strong

Max Verstappen’s 24h nurburgring debut is under way, and the Red Bull-liveried Mercedes has already moved to the front during his first two stints. Dani Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer are sharing the drive, while the race has begun with over 300,000 people at the circuit and millions expected to follow online.

Verstappen and Juncadella

Juncadella is set to take the start behind the wheel of the #3 Mercedes. Verstappen handled the early run in the car and put it into the lead, giving the team an immediate return from a debut that arrived with real expectation.

The four-driver lineup gives the team a clear shape for the rest of the race. Verstappen is in the entry for the first time, and the opening stints showed why his presence has drawn so much attention to a field already packed with contenders.

Team Abt and pole

The Red Bull-backed Team Abt locked out the front row in qualifying, but the Verstappen entry was not the one on pole. Luca Engstler took the top spot in the #84 Lamborghini Huracan after the session, while Verstappen booked his team into the pole position shootout after a nervy end to his final qualifying run.

That qualifying sequence set up a race with several victory contenders rather than a simple front-running script. The biggest Nurburgring 24 Hours in over a decade has already produced drama in the opening hour, and the leading positions have been changing quickly enough to keep the pressure on every major entry.

Nordschleife at night

Verstappen also experienced the Nordschleife at night before race day, adding another layer to a weekend that has pushed him into unfamiliar ground outside Formula 1. He is facing what the source describes as the toughest grid of drivers outside F1 that he has ever faced, which fits the scale of the event and the depth of the field.

The early lead gives his team a live chance to turn a first appearance into a result, but the front of the race is still shared among multiple contenders. With the pole sitter in a different Red Bull-backed car and the leading Mercedes not starting from the front, the fight at the head of the race remains open as the 24 Hours unfolds.