Team Verstappen looks locked in a two-horse race for the Nurburgring 24 Hours victory with the sister Winward Racing-run Mercedes #80, as Max Verstappen made his nighttime racing debut on the Nordschleife. 

Many of the pre-event favourites fell by the wayside in a frenetic opening few hours. Those such as the ‘Grello’ #911 Porsche and the #45 Kondo Racing Ferrari crashed, while the defending race-winning #1 BMW retired with a recurring fueling issue. 

That, combined with some inch-perfect tyre calls during some early race rain, means the Team Verstappen car and the #80 Mercedes appear to be in a race of their own at the front.

Having put in back-to-back storming stints where he charged from 10th to first early in the race, Verstappen next returned to the cockpit around 1.30am local time - with 13 and a half hours on the clock remaining. 

He’d completed just one lap in the Thursday night qualifying session in wet conditions, meaning his first nighttime stint in a real-world endurance race is a significant first for Verstappen. 

The Team Verstappen car - with Dani Juncadella, Lucas Auer and Jules Gounon taking turns at the wheel before Verstappen's night stint - has been routinely trading the race lead with the #80 Mercedes. Both cars are run by the same Winward Racing outfit and appear to be controlling the pace at the front, with little threat behind.

It was Juncadella who handed the Mercedes over to Verstappen, having run second just behind Maro Engel in the #80 Mercedes.

The next best car - the #99 BMW with Kelvin van der Linde at the wheel - was several minutes behind the race-leading Mercedes duo, having lost time to an opening lap spin.

It essentially means it’s an intra-Winward Racing fight for the victory, unless either car suffers a significant setback.