Max Verstappen turns heads by winning his first GT3 race at Nurburgring

Max Verstappen has won his first GT3 race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife after a flawless day for the Dutchman and his teammate, Chris Lulham. The pair split their driving duties for the 28-lap race, where the Red Bull-liveried Ferrari emerged victorious.

The Dutchman had started third, but took his No. 31 car past the front row starters and moved into the lead of the race before even entering the corner. However, a clash took place just behind him that he barely missed, as the No. 917 Porsche clipped the pole-sitting Aston Martin in the lead up to the first corner.

Verstappen then drove on without being affected by the incident behind. He slowly started stretching out his lead at the front, as his advantage at the end of lap one grew from 1.453 seconds to 23.045 seconds after making seven circuits around the green hell for his first pit stop.

He then continued for a second stint that lasted for a bit more than an hour, so he drove for the majority of the race before Lulham jumped in at the helm of the #31 car. Subsequently, the Briton tried to hold onto the advantage that Verstappen had helped bolster so long.

However, some Code 60 flags (that limit the racers speed to a maximum of 60kmh) at the incident zone impacted this lead, with the Ford pair soon starting to eat into the lead that Lulham had to his advantage.

Despite this, Lulham was able to take the chequered flag as the race leader, implying that the #31 Ferrari driven by Max Verstappen and Chris Lulham won the race as the overall winners with a 24.496 seconds gap to their nearest rivals at the end of four hours of racing.

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The 24 Hours of the Nurburgring is the eventual dream that Max Verstappen aims to fulfill

Max Verstappen at the 1000km race on the Nürburgring on September 13 - Source: Getty

After securing his DMSB Grade A permit to race at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in the faster machinery, Max Verstappen was asked about his experience after his initial run earlier this month at the Azerbaijan GP weekend. There, he revealed his dream of competing at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring sometime soon.

Talking to the media, including SportsKeeda, he said:

"At the end of the day, any kind of lap that you drive around there in any kind of car is always fun. When you try to push it a bit, you see a lot what’s happening around you. The atmosphere is really good, a lot of passionate endurance fans are always there anyway. And yeah, it’s kind of my hobby as well racing in other kind of motorsport than just F1. Of course, my dream is eventually to do the 24 Hour [of Nurburgring] race, so I knew that license needed to come. So it was the perfect opportunity to do so."

With the 2026 24 Hours of Nurburgring scheduled to take place between May 14-17, it perfectly falls in place between the Miami and the Canadian GP, allowing Max Verstappen to possibly be a part of the field at the endurance classic.