Verstappen survives clash with sister Mercedes to lead Nurburgring 24 Hours
Max Verstappen survived a side-by-side clash with the sister Winward Racing-run Mercedes to lead the Nurburgring 24 Hours during his first night stint.
Verstappen took over the Team Verstappen entry from Dani Juncadella while in second place as the two Mercedes had a comfortable margin over a depleted top class - many entries were lost during a frenetic opening few hours.
Verstappen only had one lap of night-time driving on the Nordschleife prior to the race, but he wasted little time in pushing during his first night stint.
He soon closed the small gap to Maro Engel’s #80 Mercedes and shadowed the 2016 Nurburgring 24 Hours winner in close proximity.
Verstappen made his move on the run to to Tiergarten, pulling to the right and sweeping around Engel to retake the lead he’d taken during his first back-to-back stints earlier in the race.
Verstappen re-takes the lead!
He's been all over Engel since the stops and finally drafts past at the end of Döttinger Höhe
📺 https://t.co/nRctemYlyf#IGTC | #24hNBR pic.twitter.com/UE1dVMPdxv
The lead had been bouncing between the Team Verstappen entry - with team-mates Juncadella, Lucas Auer and Jules Gounon at the wheel - and the #80 Mercedes prior to Verstappen’s night stint.
Engel tried to retake the lead, but the pair ended up making side-by-side contact on a straight while trying to negotiate traffic ahead of them.
Back comes Engel, but it almost ends in tears at the fastest part of the track! 🫣
📺 https://t.co/nRctemYlyf#IGTC | #24hNBR pic.twitter.com/khW3IxxOnv
That sent Engel skating across the grass. He managed to recover to the track to maintain second place and then reeled Verstappen back in to run within a second of him.
Kelvin van der Linde was running third for the #99 BMW, with that crew driving a strong race to recover from an opening lap spin that dropped it to the back of the top class.
There's a growing casualty list among that top class that features many of the pre-event favourites - including the #911 Porsche (Kevin Estre crashed after going through an oil patch), the #45 Ferrari (crashed navigating a Porsche Cayman GT4), the #16 Audi (ran into the back of the #47 Mercedes) and the defending race winning #1 BMW that retired with a terminal refuelling issue.