Verstappen, first Ferrari win at Nürburgring

It was Max Verstappen’s official baptism by fire today in the world of GT3 at the Nurburgring. In the past few days, we all wondered how the Dutch driving ace would perform. Today, the answer came. Max Verstappen wins and impresses even in closed-wheel racing, taking victory on his GT3 debut with the Ferrari 296 GT3 of the Emil Frey Racing team. The ninth race of the German Nurburgring Langstrecken series championship, called Barbarossapreis, saw Max and his teammate Chris Lulham secure P3 overall this morning. Conditions this morning were far from ideal, as the usual and characteristic fog had settled over the Nordschleife, causing difficulties for many drivers.

However, the race, which started at 12:30, presented a very different scenario. The Aston Martin Vantage of Team Walkenhorst, which started on pole, was immediately passed on the outside at the first braking zone, amid some contacts further back that caused general chaos. From that moment on, Max set the pace for everyone else, steadily extending his lead lap by lap over his pursuers.

Verstappen/Lulham wins, Ford chases at 27 seconds

Max Verstappen dominated the race driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 in the SP9 PRO class, completing 27 laps in 4 hours and securing victory with a clearly superior pace compared to his rivals. Behind him, at over 22 seconds, was Ben Mardenborough in a Ford Mustang GT3, followed by Aaron Kolb, also in a Mustang, nearly a minute behind.

Notably, in fourth place was Christopher Leuchter in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, representing the AT1 class—a category with different regulations and generally less competitive than SP9 PRO. Fifth place went to Kristian Krognes with an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, competing in SP9 PRO-AM, a mixed category of professionals and amateurs, with a much larger gap of over four minutes.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars driven by Christian Jahn and Sven Müller (CUP2 PRO class) finished sixth and seventh but with significant time gaps compared to the leaders, confirming that these single-make classes perform at a different level than the top-tier SP9 PRO. Christopher Breuer’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo II in SP9 AM also placed eighth, trailing the leaders by more than seven minutes.