Max Verstappen's pursuit of a Nurburgring 24 Hours victory was shattered with just hours remaining after a driveshaft failure derailed his team's #3 car. The Team Verstappen entry, featuring a rotating driver lineup including Verstappen, had been leading the endurance classic when Dani Juncadella slowed on track. With fewer than four hours left in the race, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 suffered a terminal mechanical issue on Juncadella's third lap, forcing the car back to the garage.
The costly repair dropped the #3 car from a dominant first place to ninth, effectively ending its chances. The sister #80 Winward Racing Mercedes, driven by Maro Engel, inherited the lead, now carrying Mercedes' hopes to break a decade-long Nurburgring 24 Hours winless streak. While not an F1 event, it highlights the brutal reliability demands of top-tier endurance racing, even for a driver synonymous with winning.
Read the full story at The Race