u/Ok_Hedgehog_65

One of the biggest "what ifs" from the last 24h Nurburgring - Estre was cutting through the field at a frightening pace before the oil spill took him out. In the space of 20 minutes he'd already closed from 20 seconds down to 6 on the leading Mercedes. The #911 Manthey was clearly quick enough to fight for the win. Would #80 win if Estre stayed in the race?

Verstappen and his teammates - Juncadella, Gounon and Auer - are rated as joint top favourites alongside ROWE Racing BMW. The speed is clearly there - Verstappen's team broke the 9-minute barrier in qualifying. But the Nürburgring 24H is a different beast. Reliability will decide everything. In the pre-season NLS rounds, the team showed raw pace but picked up technical issues both times. Their main rivals: ROWE Racing BMW with three drivers returning from last year's winning lineup, Manthey Porsche with Estre/Güven/Preining, and Scherer Sport Audi with Haase - who has already beaten Verstappen's team twice in NLS races. Juncadella himself said the race often feels like a lottery given the unpredictable factors over 24 hours.

The Green Hell wasn't ready for Max. The organisers made the call - Verstappen's presence at any public event this weekend would pose a genuine safety risk given the unprecedented crowds. All weekend tickets sold out for the first time in the event's history. 161 cars on the grid, the largest entry since 2014. Verstappen races alongside Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Lucas Auer in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for Verstappen Racing. He came prepared - earlier this year he won an NLS pre-season round at the Nordschleife with the same teammates, though the result was later stripped for a tyre regulation infringement.