Max Verstappen swaps RB21 for GT4, nails Nürburgring laps and a sub-class win on path to Nordschleife permit
Max Verstappen showed up at the Nürburgring on Saturday, not to crush another qualifying lap in an F1 car, but to do something far more modest on paper and much trickier in practice: log the miles he needs to earn his Nordschleife race permit. He did that—and looked annoyingly quick while he was at it.
Sharing the #980 Porsche Cayman GT4 with sim-racing ally Chris Lulham in the NLS7 four-hour race, Verstappen finished first in the CUP3 guest sub-class (CUP3(G)), seventh among all CUP3 runners, and 27th overall. It wasn’t a win in the headline class, but it was a clean, clinical display of racecraft against cars with considerably more shove.
That last bit matters. Because he hasn’t yet completed the licensing steps for the Nordschleife, Verstappen’s GT4 had to run with roughly 300bhp—well down on the usual 425bhp for the category. Even so, he qualified sixth in CUP3 outright and a yawning 25 seconds clear of the next-quickest guest-class CUP3 car after a wet morning session that dried before lights out. Detuned on the straights, full-tilt in the corners. You know the drill.
When the race went green, the deficit told. He was mugged on the run to Turn 1 and again on the long flat-out sections, but the reigning F1 World Champion stayed glued to quicker machinery once the road started writhing and climbing. Through traffic and changing grip, Verstappen settled into a metronomic rhythm at around the nine-minute mark, keeping faster PRO, AM and PRO/AM CUP3 cars in sight, and crucially, banking the laps he needed.
The box-ticking wasn’t the story, though. The way he did it was. Even from the second of three start groups, Verstappen made higher-powered entries sweat by simply refusing to give up time in the technical bits. He managed the stint, looked after the tyres, and built a comfortable buffer to the other CUP3(G) runners before peeling into the pits just after half-distance.
By then he had 14 race laps in his pocket—the key threshold listed among the requirements for the DMSB Permit Nordschleife—and handed the Cayman to Lulham to close it out. The weather promptly turned on them again. Rain swept over parts of the circuit, forcing Lulham in for wets with around 80 minutes remaining, before the track came back late on. Even with the shuffle, the #980 stayed safely clear of its sub-class rivals and picked off a few places as others faltered, Lulham completing 10 laps of his own and bringing it home seventh in CUP3 overall.
So why is Verstappen spending a rare free weekend wrestling a detuned GT4 around 20.8km of Germany’s most unforgiving racetrack? Because he wants the golden ticket: the Nordschleife permit that opens the door to racing there in GT3 machinery, including the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in future seasons. With the ‘Ring capped at GT3 as its top class, this is the ladder everyone climbs—Max included.
“Racing is not just my profession, but also my hobby,” Verstappen said via his official channels going into the weekend. “This weekend I am at the Nordschleife with the goal to qualify for the mandatory race permit needed to race here in a GT3 car, which I would love. The Nordschleife is at the top of my list of tracks I want to race on…it’s extremely challenging and demanding.”
There’s a romance to the whole thing that probably explains the grin on his face all day. F1 may be his day job, but the Nordschleife has a way of humbling stars and equalizing egos. The rules do, too: before you’re licensed, you run less power. You start in the lower groups. You keep your nose clean. You prove you can lap the old place safely and fast. Verstappen did exactly that, with just enough showmanship to make it entertaining.
By the flag, he and Lulham had ticked off everything they came for: a stack of safe, brisk green-flag miles; a sub-class win; and a result in the broader CUP3 field that speaks to pace beyond paperwork. As for what’s next, the path is obvious. Keep collecting the signatures, move up the categories as the permit process allows, and eventually point a GT3 car at the Green Hell with the clock running through the night.
If Saturday is any indication, he won’t be there just to make up the numbers.
