As sheets of Eifel rain hammered the Nordschleife's unforgiving ribbon, four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen transformed the "Green Hell" into his personal proving ground on Saturday morning.
Strapped into the cockpit of a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, the 27-year-old Red Bull ace sliced through qualifying for round seven of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) – the 65th ADAC ACAS Cup – posting a best lap of 10:21.591 to snag sixth in the CUP3 class.
Just a week after dominating the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen jetted north, trading F1's hybrid fury for the Porsche's mid-engine poise in the #980 Lionspeed GP entry, decked in his signature Verstappen.com Racing blue.
The 8:30 a.m. session, a 90-minute wet-weather duel across the 25.3-kilometer layout – fusing the Grand Prix circuit's precision with the Nordschleife's 170-turn terror – tested dozens of GT3 and GT4 contenders.
Verstappen, fresh off his Friday's mandatory "driving test" (a theory exam and two instructor-led laps earning his DMSB B Permit), wasn't gunning for glory. This double-header weekend – four-hour races Saturday and Sunday – is his license grind: two classified finishes totaling 14 laps for the A Permit upgrade, unlocking dreams like the 2026 ADAC RAVENOL 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
©Verstappen.com
Regulations leveled the field in CUP3 for novices like him: the Cayman, normally a 425-bhp beast, dialed back to 300 bhp for equity. Verstappen's opening gambit? A probing 10:34.244.
By session's close, he'd hacked 13 seconds off, trailing class pole by 15.3 seconds but humiliating the CUP3(G) amateurs by 68.4 seconds – a testament to his F1-honed instincts amid aquaplaning crests at Flugplatz and the Karussell's banking.
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Teaming with Lionspeed's Matisse Lismont, Chris Lulham, and Kyle Tilley – podium finishers in July's GT World Challenge Europe at the Ring – Verstappen will tag-team two Caymans, logging 20% of each race's distance per car to tally his quota.
"Racing is my hobby too," he posted pre-weekend. "This is to qualify for the GT3 permit—I'd love that."
You can follow the action from the Nürburgring all weekend on YouTube.
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