Max Verstappen breaks silence on his experience of racing the GT4 car at Nurburgring

In the one-week break between the Italian GP and the Azerbaijan GP, Max Verstappen raced at the Nurburgring Nordschleife to earn his DMSB A permit to race GT3 cars in the near future. With the Dutchman gaining the Nordschleife license to race faster cars, he revealed his experience of racing around the revered green hell.

Verstappen took to the Nurburgring Nordschleife earlier in the year for his personal test runs with a Ferrari 296 GT3 car. While it was regarded that the four-time F1 champion had taken part in a track day to get to grips with the track, a possible fixture for him racing around the 20.83-kilometer track did not become a real consideration until more than a week ago.

Moreover, to race faster GT3 cars in the Nurburgring Endurance Series, the 27-year-old needed to have a DMSB Permit A. For this, he needed to take part in a race event with a detuned GT4 car, where he outshone the machinery he had and was able to earn the permit by the end of his stint.

So, when asked about his experience at the fabled German track, he told the media, including SK, ahead of the Azerbaijan GP:

"It was good. I mean, that I needed to get my permit, so I had to that race in a GT4 car. The car itself, you know downtuned, it’s not the most exciting to drive, but at the other hand, you still learn a lot from a day like that. Luckily, it rained a bit it was dry, so you get more experience on the track. Dealing with traffic as a slow car, not always the easiest. And the rest, just staying out of trouble really. At the end of the day, any kind of lap that you drive around there in any kind of car is always fun. When you try to push it a bit, you see a lot what’s happening around you."

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is understood to take part in the ninth round of the Nurburgring Endurance Series on September 27 with Emil Frey Racing in the Ferrari 296 GT3 car.

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Max Verstappen dreams of taking part in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring

Red Bull's Max Verstappen at the Nürburgring Circuit - Source: Getty

Though Max Verstappen is slated to get back behind the wheel of a GT3 car this month for a full-on race at the Nurburgring, this wasn't his main motive to earn the DMSB Nordschleife Grad A Permit. Moreover, the Red Bull driver aspires for more in the GT realm.

The four-time F1 champion revealed how he wants to compete in the crown jewel of Nurburgring events, i.e., the 24 Hour race that takes place there, as he further added:

"Of course, my dream is eventually to do the 24 Hour [of Nubrurgring] race, so I knew that license needed to come. So it was the perfect opportunity to do so."

On the other hand, next year's 24 Hours of Nurburgring falls is set to fall on the second weekend of May, conveniently in the gap between the Miami and the Canadian Grand Prix. This would make Max Verstappen's entry into the 2026 endurance classic even more likely.

Edited by Geetansh Pasricha