While Max Verstappen has been taking a measured approach with his ventures outside Formula 1, he decided to go all out in 2026, as he finally has the permit to race in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and made no concessions with the program for the Intercontinental GT Challenge round at the Green Hell.
Two things that were already known were that he would be part of a lineup for the race and that he will be in a Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo as a result of Verstappen Racing’s change of manufacturer for the upcoming season, abandoning Aston Martin, as it was a special endurance program ran by 2Seas Motorsport.
The change comes from this point, as it was expected that Verstappen would partner his protegé Chris Lulham, as it happened in their partial NLS campaign in 2025, but in fact, Verstappen will replace Lulham in the No. 3 Verstappen Racing car, as the rest of the lineup will be formed by a myriad of Mercedes factory drivers, as part of the announcement that Verstappen Racing will be one of Mercedes’ performance teams, meaning it will have the highest tier of customer support.
It comes as no surprise that Max himself wants to face off the Green Hell, as sportscar racing is what he does the most in his iRacing commitments with Team Redline, though he holds all the famous 24 hour races of the World in the highest regard, with a firm desire to race them in real life after having a taste of them in sim racing.
Daniel Juncadella, another avid sim racer that juggles it with his real racing, comes from the full season lineup, as he will do the whole GT World Challenge Europe calendar with Chris Lulham, while Jules Gounon joins from Verstappen’s Endurance Cup lineup, with the only addition outside the squad being Lucas Auer, with all of them having a wealth of experience in all of Mercedes’ GT3 endeavors and even those outside it, like the DTM before the switch to GT3 machinery, which means that not only the trio is among the most skilled factory drivers, but they also have experience with coaching and setup feedback from other programs, the best bet to help Max Verstappen to find the best adjust for Nürburgring.
Most drivers would do the Nürburgring 24h Qualifying Race as a preparation for the real deal, but since Max has his F1 commitments in the way, he will join the team at NLS2 to gather more experience for the full day race.
The 24 Hours of Nürburgring will be held on 16 and 17 May.
PHOTO: Verstappen.com
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