{"id":129441,"date":"2025-09-08T19:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129441\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T19:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:12:09","slug":"max-verstappens-nordschleife-race-debut-set-for-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/129441\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen’s Nordschleife race debut set for weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a week after his victory at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza<\/a>, Max Verstappen will be back behind the wheel \u2013 even though there’s no Formula 1 race. Instead, the Red Bull star will fulfil a long-held dream in the Eifel Mountains: competing in an official round of the Nurburgring Endurance Series (NLS).<\/p>\n

The influential Helmut Marko remarked in Italy that Verstappen was so focused on F1 he “even wasn\u2019t talking about GT.”<\/a>\u00a0Yet this Saturday and Sunday, the Nurburgring Nordschleife will host NLS rounds 7 (ADAC-ACAS Cup) and 8 (64th ADAC Reinoldus Endurance Race) respectively, each lasting four hours \u2013 and Verstappen plans to compete.<\/p>\n

Marko, Red Bull GmbH\u2019s motorsport advisor, confirmed Verstappen\u2019s Nurburgring outing when asked by Motorsport.com. The Dutchman has obtained Red Bull\u2019s contractual approval for the weekend, but before he can actually take part in an NLS race, he still has to “complete the necessary formalities”.<\/p>\n

Participation in an NLS event requires official licensing documents from the German Motor Sport Federation (DMSB). To obtain the so-called DMSB Permit Nordschleife (DPN), Verstappen must hit the classroom on Friday.<\/p>\n

Former Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug recently told Autosport it was “ridiculous that Max Verstappen has to prove a Nordschleife permit in order to be eligible to race there. I suggest introducing a rule that waives this requirement once a driver has four world titles.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Haug was likely recalling the saga surrounding MotoGP superstar Valentino Rossi, who in 2024 had planned to contest the Nurburgring 24 Hours but ultimately withdrew because the DMSB would not grant him an exemption from its strict permit regulations.<\/p>\n

As a holder of an international racing license, it will be enough for Verstappen to attend a DMSB Academy course followed by an exam.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Marco Bertorello \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Should he pass and thus secure the entry-level B Permit, he will be allowed to race in a category B car \u2013 reportedly, according to auto motor und sport, a Porsche Cayman GT4 CS run by the Lionspeed team. His friends Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen earned their own ‘Nordschleife driver\u2019s license’ in exactly the same way.<\/p>\n

To obtain the A Permit, Verstappen must, according to DMSB regulations, record “at least two classified race results” covering “a minimum of 14 race laps in total.”<\/p>\n

That would in theory mean competing again on Sunday in the Cayman GT4 CS to qualify for the top NLS class.<\/p>\n

However, one Saturday race could be enough for him to line up on Sunday in the Ferrari 296 GT3 of Swiss squad Emil Frey Racing \u2013 which is the real goal. That’s because an “individual case assessment by the DPN decision panel” is possible under DMSB licensing rules.<\/p>\n

That could apply if Verstappen races two different cars on Saturday. For FIA Platinum-rated drivers such as Verstappen, “the recognition of a double start is possible.” In other words, if the F1 champion is entered twice for the same race, that could already suffice for the A Permit.<\/p>\n

One thing is certain: Verstappen\u2019s cars will carry Red Bull logos. The bill, however, will not be footed by Red Bull Racing but by Red Bull GmbH in Fuschl. It is exactly these kinds of freedoms \u2013 being able to race outside Formula 1 \u2013 that made Verstappen\u2019s decision to stay with Red Bull a little easier.<\/p>\n

Marko, for his part, is not worried about Verstappen risking injury. He sees the positives of his Nurburgring adventure: “At a time when our Formula 1 car wasn\u2019t running properly, he was there with great enthusiasm. It was an important distraction for his well-being,” the Austrian remarked ahead Verstappen’s big Nurburgring debut.<\/p>\n

This weekend could also finally put to rest the tiresome debates about what Balance of Performance (BoP) Verstappen may have run when setting his unofficial lap record in May<\/a>. Once he takes on the seasoned NLS veterans in true race conditions, everyone will be playing by the same rules.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Verstappen will not be entering under an alias like ‘Franz Hermann’. He will compete under his real name \u2013 as the licensing rules for an official race demand.<\/p>\n

Fans will be able to watch how Verstappen fares this weekend on motorsport.tv<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In this article<\/p>\n

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics<\/p>\n

Subscribe to news alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just a week after his victory at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Max Verstappen will be back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,65486,576,577,65485,70991,82],"class_list":["post-129441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-italian-grand-prix-2025","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-italian-gp","tag-max-verstappens-nordschleife-race-debut-set-for-weekend","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}