NLS NLS2
Max Verstappen disqualified from NLS2 win over tyre rule breach
Winward Racing exceeded the tyre limit meaning it lost its victory at the Nordschleife
Heiko Stritzke
Edited: Mar 22, 2026, 6:47 PM
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NLS2 2026: Verstappen-Mercedes siegt mit einer Minute Vorsprung
Photo by: VLN
Max Verstappen, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella have lost their victory in Saturday's NLS2 Nordschleife race due to a technical nightmare that has disqualified the trio.
The #3 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 dominated the contest from pole, but then the technical commission discovered that the team had utilised seven sets of tyres and not six.
Developing story:
This therefore exceeded the permitted amount so the Verstappen party has received a post-race disqualification, handing victory to the #99 Rowe Racing BMW duo of Dan Harper and Jordan Pepper
Winward team boss Christian Hohenadel said: "The disqualification is tough to take. Unfortunately, we made an internal error that left the stewards with no choice but to exclude the winning car.
"It was our first outing as a full Mercedes-AMG Performance Team on the Nordschleife, and I want to apologise to all the fans who were cheering us on. We’ll analyse every single process today, learn from it, and come back even stronger for the 24 Hours."
Max Verstappen
Photo by: VLN
It means the #44 Falken Porsche of Tim Heinemann and Sven Muller, plus the Losch 48 Motorsport by Black Falcon Porsche driven by Dylan Pereira, Tobias Muller and Patrick Assenheimer have respectively joined Harper/Pepper on the podium.
This was one of Verstappen's preparation races for the Nurburgring 24 Hours in May and should he elect to contest another warm-up, it would be on the 11 April.
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