Max Verstappen crushes rivals with commanding Nordschleife victory

The four-time world champion held onto the lead off the line, keeping P1 through Turn 1 and immediately looking to pull clear of Christopher Haase’s Audi behind.

Verstappen’s time at the front didn’t last long, however, as the Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II got the better of the Dutchman, sweeping past him on the straight to take the lead and then settling into a stubborn defensive phase, despite the Mercedes AMG GT3 behind being quicker, especially through the more technical sections of the Green Hell.

At the one-hour mark, which coincided with the pit stop to hand over to his team-mate, Verstappen managed to reclaim the lead, overtaking Haase on the straight and diving into the pit lane ahead of everyone.

A slightly slower stop from Winward Racing, however, allowed Nico Hantke — who had just taken over from his team-mate — to rejoin the race in the lead.

Daniel Juncadella, back on track after taking over from Verstappen, quickly moved back into P1 shortly after, also opening up a solid gap to the Audi in the opening laps.

As the laps ticked by, Hantke not only failed to match Juncadella’s pace but also that of the #99, #47, #34 and #48 cars, slipping back to sixth, with the German unable to keep up with his more experienced team-mate during the opening stint.

With around two hours remaining, Juncadella stretched his advantage over the chasing pack to over 20 seconds, controlling the race comfortably from the front.

After eight laps and with one hour and 50 minutes still to go, Juncadella delivered a very strong second stint, stretching his lead to nearly a minute over closest challenger Assenheimer before handing the car over to the third driver in the line-up, Jules Gounon.

The Frenchman rejoined the track in the lead but immediately came under pressure from Dan Harper, with the two battling for the top spot over a few corners. Gounon managed to hold on, reclaiming and retaining the lead until the final pit stop, when Verstappen got back behind the wheel after starting the race.

The Dutchman comfortably brought the #3 car home with a margin of over a minute, backing up his pole position from earlier in the day and securing his second NLS victory after last year’s success.