Nurburgring Qualifiers Race 1 starting grid: where does Verstappen start?

The four-time world champion endured a difficult session at the Nürburgring in the first of the two qualifying runs scheduled for the weekend.

Lucas Auer took the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO at the start, but proceedings were soon brought to a halt by a lengthy red flag following an early crash.

The #39 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO ended up in the barriers, with Christian Krognes at the wheel. The Norwegian escaped unharmed, but the impact caused significant damage to the guardrail.

After a couple of laps, the Austrian handed over to Max Verstappen, who had around half an hour to mount his push for pole.

However, heavy traffic on his flying laps prevented him from challenging at the front, with Verstappen ultimately finishing only sixth.

The Dutchman ended up 3.5 seconds off pole-sitter Norbert Zsigo, who topped the session in the BMW M4 GT3 EVO ahead of Kenneth Heyer and Jesse Krohn.

Ahead of Verstappen on the grid will also be Arrow at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo26 and Stolz in another Mercedes-AMG GT3. However, a potential penalty still hangs over the Verstappen team following the early-session incident caused by Auer, which remains under investigation and could result in a grid drop.

Below is the full starting grid for the SP9 class, in which Verstappen and Auer compete.