The 24h of Nurburgring 2026 begins
Finally, here we are: the very long weekend of the 24 Hours of Nurburgring starts on Thursday, featuring Max Verstappen and his teammates Lucas Auer, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon at the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with number 3 on the thrilling ups and downs of the legendary Nordschleife circuit. It starts with the first two qualifying sessions, called Q1 and Q2, but which are actually true qualifiers only for drivers in the lower categories, fighting for positions from 50th to 161st on the starting grid.
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For Max Verstappen, these are “just” free practice sessions
Max Verstappen, like all his other high-profile colleagues competing with GT3 cars, will however already be able to get on track at the Nurburgring to start working on the car setup and to get familiar with the many hazards of a circuit over 20 km long and potentially dangerous at every corner. Although it is somewhat contradictory in terms, Q1 and Q2 are actually used as free practice sessions for professional drivers, who are therefore not required to set a real fast lap to advance, being already automatically qualified in the top 49 positions on the starting grid. But there is a “but”: everyone must mandatorily participate in Q2, the three-and-a-half-hour night session, to obtain the pass from Race Control to continue with the rest of the weekend.
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Live streaming of Q1 and Q2
How and when to follow the first official sessions of the 24 Hours of Nurburgring Nordschleife weekend? Below you will find the official live boxes from the race organizers’ YouTube channel, with images from the traditional broadcast and from the pit lane. Thursday’s live coverage from the Green Hell starts at 13:15 with the first two hours of Q1, while Q2 is scheduled from 20:00 to 23:30 (here is the full schedule). The most anticipated weekend for Max Verstappen starts here.
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