Max Verstappen's hopes of winning the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race on his debut were dashed by a late driveshaft failure. The four-time Formula One world champion was sharing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Dani Juncadella, Jules Gounon, and Lucas Auer. They led for several hours before the car lost speed with 3 hours and 20 minutes to go.
Verstappen's debut triggered record attendance of 352,000, the first time in the event's history that weekend tickets sold out.
Another Mercedes, driven by Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller, and Maxime Martin, took the overall victory from 25th on the grid. It was Mercedes' first win at the Nürburgring 24 Hours since 2016.
"We had a two-minute lead over everyone else. Just a dream race, but unfortunately it was three hours too short," said Juncadella.
Verstappen now turns his attention to the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal next weekend.