How Max Verstappen’s long-awaited endurance racing debut went

Max Verstappen successfully secured a permit that will enable him to race in the Nurburgring 24 Hours on his debut weekend in endurance racing.

Fresh from ending his F1 victory drought with a dominant performance at the Italian Grand Prix, four-time world champion Verstappen did not have a weekend away from motorsport like most of his peers.

Instead, Verstappen made his racing debut in the NLS series at the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife.

But first, Verstappen had to return to the classroom to sit a theory exam on Friday, enabling him to participate in the seventh round of the championship.

In order to secure a DMSB Nordschleife Permit Grade A, Verstappen was required to complete 14 laps of the iconic circuit, as well as completing a double start requirement at the wheel of two different cars.

Verstappen produced a lap time of 10:21.591s which was around 15 seconds off the quickest overall time but 25 seconds faster than the next car in the CUP3 class.

A complicated day 

However, the day did not go without complications, with one of Verstappen’s Lionspeed GP team’s entries involved in an accident during qualifying which ruled it out of the race.

Verstappen therefore started the race behind the wheel of the #980 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS, which was artificially slowed by 125bhp compared to rivals in the same class due to the series’ rules around rookie drivers.

That meant Verstappen, who was also carrying 150kg more than the other cars in his class, had no chance of defending against his rivals at the start as he lost several positions off the line.

Nevetheless, Verstappen completed the 14 laps needed to obtain his Permit A before handing over to teammate Chris Lulham, who races for the Red Bull driver’s Red Line simracing team.

The pair finished seventh in class and 27th overall. 

Despite not driving the second car, Verstappen was granted his A Permit on the grounds of force majeure.

'Embarrassing' rules criticised 

Verstappen opted against taking part in Sunday’s races as he had achieved what he set out to in securing the Permit A which will allow him to drive GT3 cars and eventually race in the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

The restrictions around permits have been heavily criticised, with Ralf Schumacher, the younger brother of legendary seven-time world champion Michael, blasting the rule as embarrassing.

"Of course, I would have given him that immediately, or he would have been given a briefing about the Nordschleife and the specific things,” Schumacher was quoted as saying by Motorsport-Total.

"That would have been the end of the cheese. The best driver in the world will be able to do it if the others can do it, I'm pretty sure of that.

"Instead of many people being happy that Max also brings this attention to the Nordschleife again, and for what all the drivers do there, people argue about the fact that he gets his permit before he even drives. That's embarrassing.”

Verstappen is expected to return to the NLS series at the end of this month to take part in the next round in an Emil Frey Ferrari GT3 car.

First, the Dutchman will return to F1 action at next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.