There’s a reason why racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart famously dubbed Nürburgring the “Green Hell”. It’s a circuit that doesn’t forgive the careless, and sometimes, it doesn’t forgive the careful either.
The 24-hour race combines the Nordschleife with the Grand Prix circuit of Nürburgring, making a 25.378km behemoth coiled through the Eifel mountains of Germany. The challenge of the track is only further heightened by the unpredictable weather. It isn’t uncommon to have sunshine, fog and rain at different parts of the circuit all at the same time.
This challenge also forms the very fabric of the allure of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Every year, over a hundred cars of wildly different speeds and philosophies attempt to survive the ‘Green Hell’ for 24 consecutive hours. Every year, the Nürburgring has the last word, and the 2026 edition was no different.
Record edition
Part of what makes the 24 Hours of Nürburgring so unique is the field itself. While races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans feature three classes, this one features over 20 – from pure-bred GT3 racers to touring cars, and even one very determined Dacia Logan. The 2026 race boasted 161 entries, the largest field in over a decade. Weekend tickets sold out for the first time as well, with a record 3,52,000 fans in attendance. It’s a number that reflects both the event’s prestige and something else entirely – the presence of Max Verstappen.
The four-time F1 world champion raced the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the headlining SP9 class, alongside GT racing stars Lucas Auer, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon. He had spent his spare weekends between F1 races preparing for this moment, and from the opening hours, it showed.
As key rivals dropped out of contention, Verstappen firmly put the #3 Mercedes in the lead after a pair of double stints. By Sunday morning, the #3 crew had built a near-30 second lead. The narrative seemed written. The best driver in the world, in a very fast car, was going to win the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Then the Nürburgring reminded everyone of the terms.
With a little over three hours left on the clock, a driveshaft failure struck the #3 car with Juncadella behind the wheel. Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG customer racing, explained, “Just after the pit stop, Dani reported some noise from the rear right, and first of all we had an ABS failure, which leads us to assume an electric failure – something we could reset. We tried to recover in two laps and left him out because it was not influencing the driving so much.”
“But then he recognised more and more noise, vibrations, and suddenly had to slow down to save the car, and limped it to the pits. That’s when we saw that the whole rear axle had major damage resulting from a driveshaft failure.”
And just like that, it was over. The sister #80 Winward Racing Mercedes of Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller, Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz went on to take victory – Mercedes-AMG’s first in 10 years. The #84 Lamborghini crew finished second, despite suffering a puncture at the start and later being hit with an 86-second penalty, that too with no Safety Car. The 24 Hours of Nürburgring produced yet another outcome that no one predicted, and the story was better for it.
Here is the thing about Verstappen’s heartbreak: it only helps to keep the legend of the Nürburgring alive. And it’s yet another example of just how brutal endurance racing can be. Avid motorsport fans will remember Toyota’s gut-wrenching defeat at the 2016 Le Mans race. With just three minutes left, the leading #5 Toyota suffered a turbo malfunction and ground to a halt just shy of the finish line.
Year after year, this event produces a different winner. No crew has won the race in consecutive years for well over a decade, a streak that is not coincidence, but character.
Team India
For the Indian contingent, the 24 Hours of Nürburgring was a tale of highs and lows. Driving a Ford Mustang GT3 for HRT Ford Racing, Arjun Maini impressed in qualifying, outpacing even Verstappen. However, his race ended early when he lost control over an oil spill and hit the barriers head-on.
Akshay Gupta, meanwhile, delivered an understated yet clean run in the Cup 3 class. After a handful of setbacks for the crew, Gupta took over the #949 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Culbsport for the final stint. He launched a late charge at the AM class leader but fell just 2mins 30sec short of victory. Nevertheless, a solid run saw him finish second in the Cup 3 AM class and 35th overall.
Underdog heroes
What makes endurance racing so special is that, at any given time, you have multiple races taking place simultaneously. And this delivered several underdog heroes at the Nürburgring.
The BMW M3 Touring 24H, a car that began its existence as an April Fool’s joke, finished fifth overall and won the SPX class outright. Then there was the #34 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, driven by Mattia Drudi, Christian Krognes and Nicki Thiim, which came home in third place overall – a quiet, composed performance from a team that never made the headlines, but simply kept doing the right thing, hour after hour, until the race came to them.
And then there was the Dacia Logan fielded by Olli’s Garade. The 280hp Logan suffered spins, time penalties, engine misfires, and even lost a wheel with three hours remaining. None of it stopped the Logan, which crossed the line in P107 and, in doing so, became a global phenomenon, attracting coverage that most factory teams could only dream of.
The real winner
Verstappen’s 24 Hours of Nürburgring debut introduced a whole new generation to the wonders of endurance racing. After all, the battles on track and all the incredible stories that unfolded, there’s one clear winner: The 24 Hours of Nürburgring itself.
As this year’s winner Engel framed it: “This weekend, the Nürburgring was at the centre of the motorsport world”.