24 Hours of Nurburgring, 03:00-06:00: Battle between #3 and #80 continues

Published on 17 May 2026 by Florence Cobben

As of 6:00 a.m. this morning, the 3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Verstappen Racing still holds the lead of the race in the 54th edition of the 24 Hour of Nürburgring. With nine hours still to go, the gap to title rival #80 Mercedes-AMG Team RAVENOL is about seventeen seconds. At a respectable distance of five minutes, the #99 BMW runs in third place.

After Max took over the car for Verstappen Racing at 2:00 a.m. to commence his second stint in the car, the fight between the Verstappen Racing team and the #80 Mercedes for first place continued for lap after lap. When Max, after a double stint of almost two hours, hands over the keys to teammate Jules Gounon, the lightning fast Dutchman had built the lead to Maxime Martin in the #80 to over 27 seconds.

At 4:00 a.m., Max relinquishes the car to Gounon, who has one task ahead of him: maintain or extend the lead. Behind the two AMGs, the #99 BMW continues circulating in third place, nearly six minutes behind.

By 4:30 a.m., the first light of dawn begins to creep over the horizon, marking the end of hours spent cautiously navigating the circuit in darkness. For the first time in quite a while, there are no yellow flags, slow zones, or Code 60 periods anywhere on the circuit.

At 4:50, the leading AMG cars come into the pits for their next pitstop. Gounon stays put in the car for another stint, while Martin passes the baton to fellow teammate Fabian Schiller. Gounon gets underway with a new set of tyres, and has an eleven second lead to #80.

Not long afterwards, the #99 BMW – running third, around five and a half minutes behind the AMG rivals – also makes its pit stop. The #34 Aston Martin maintains fourth place, 6 minutes and 45 seconds off first. Shortly before 6:00, the darkness hanging over Nordschleife has fully lifted, and the drivers prepare for a new phase of the race.

Nürburgring 24 Hours - Classification after 13 hours, at 04:00
Nürburgring 24 Hours - Classification after 15 hours, at 06:00