Starting the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry with Lucas Auer, Verstappen wasted little time moving forward after taking the opening stint.
He climbed to fourth early on, before sweeping past Thomas Preining’s Porsche for third and then producing a standout move on the pole-sitting Ferrari of Dennis Marschall to move into second.
From there, Verstappen closed in on Audi driver Christopher Haase, eventually taking the lead just before the 30-minute mark.
The pair remained closely matched in the opening phase, with Haase briefly clinging to the Red Bull driver’s rear wing, before Verstappen edged clear after the first round of pit stops.
Once the Audi pitted, Verstappen built a commanding advantage and stretched his lead to almost 30 seconds at one stage and appeared firmly in control of the race.
This pit lane overtake from Max Verstappen 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/hqLYKfYeeD
— Autosport (@autosport) April 19, 2026
That changed when the car was brought in for a scheduled driver change roughly 90 minutes into the four-hour event.
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Instead of a routine stop, the Mercedes was pushed back into the garage as mechanics investigated significant damage to the front end, with Verstappen stepping out.
“On the second lap of my second stint, I realised something was wrong. The splitter had broken off,” Verstappen said.
“That is strange, because I didn’t hit anyone, so I don’t know how that happened. We need to investigate and resolve that.”
He later added further detail on the issue, describing how it developed mid-stint.
“On the second lap of my second stint, all of a sudden a lot of vibrations came,” Verstappen explained to Viaplay.
“Then the splitter also suddenly started clattering really hard.
“At that moment, I knew it had broken off. That was kind of it.
“I didn’t touch anybody, so I don’t know how it happened.
“We have to find out exactly where it went wrong.
“There are more Mercedes cars competing and things are going well there.
“Hopefully, we can sort it out.”
Auer spent close to half an hour stationary in the pits during repairs, dropping the car outside beyong 80th and three laps down by the time it rejoined, ending any chance of victory.
The result marked another painful setback for Verstappen at the Nordschleife, following a disqualification earlier in the season from a dominant NLS2 win due to a tyre allocation breach.
The race ultimately swung to Alexander Sims, who inherited the lead after Haase’s earlier stint and went on to take victory for Scherer Sport, ahead of an Abt Lamborghini entry and Thomas Preining’s Porsche in third.
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