The 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours has already delivered drama within the opening hour as the front row-starting Red Bull-backed Team Abt Lamborghinis both hit trouble, with Team Verstappen surviving contact with the polesitter. 

Mirko Bortolotti started the #84 Lamborghini from pole at the rolling start - but almost immediately lost the lead to a blinding start from Marco Mapelli in the sister #130 car.

However, it emerged 40 minutes later that Mapelli had jumped the start, earning himself a 32-second time penalty to be served at his first pitstop. 

There was more drama at the start, too, as Bortolotti was tapped by Dani Juncadella’s Team Verstappen Mercedes as they duelled for second through the second hairpin. 

That looked fairly innocuous at the time as Bortolotti held the position, but by the time he’d made it to the final chicane on the grand prix circuit, his left-rear tyre exploded following an evident puncture.

Thankfully, Bortolotti avoided having to do a full tour of the Nordschleife on only three inflated tyres, as he was able to dart towards the pits for a tyre change. 

But he had been one of the first frontrunners to falter, along with the #99 Rowe Racing BMW (Dan Harper driving, team-mate to Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Max Hesse) that was tipped into a spin on the opening lap, having gone three-wide. 

The leading (yet to be penalised) #130 Lamborghini faced pressure from Juncadella and survived minor contact that put Juncadella onto the grass and cost him positions to Maximilian Paul in the #7 Lamborghini and Kevin Estre in the #911 Porsche. 

News of Mapelli’s penalty came through just after, though, completing a bruising opening hour for the Red Bull Team Abt Lamborghinis. 

Estre had a blinding opening few laps, charging from eighth on the grid to run second. He's been having a good dogfight with Paul for the lead, with the penalty ruling Mapelli out of the lead fight for now.

His demise means Juncadella is running third in the Team Verstappen Mercedes ahead of Christopher Haase’s Audi.