Max Verstappen is comfortably leading at the Nürburgring.

      Max Verstappen failed to win the qualifying session that preceded today’s four-hour race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, but that does not seem to be in the least standing in the way of his plans to succeed in a discipline that is not his usual one.

      In his Red Bull-liveried Ferrari 296 GT3, car number 31, he moved into the lead before the first corner after starting from third and immediately began to pull away from the pack. With exactly half the race completed, Max continues to lead with a more than convincing advantage.

      Verstappen quickly found the right rhythm, as evidenced by the fact that he has repeatedly set the fastest lap of the race. Interestingly, during this round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) various outlets have been running fan polls asking who people are cheering for today, and the four-time world champion leads here too: he is getting several times as many votes as any of his rivals.

      It is clear that Max is, as they say, in a league of his own — it is enough to say that his lead has already exceeded a minute.

      So, after 15 laps the race has reached the halfway point, and Max’s Ferrari and his teammate Chris Lalham are comfortably ahead of the nearest pursuers, namely the #6 Ford Mustang GT3 crew of Frank Stippler and Vincent Kolb.

      But there are still two hours of battling left on this extremely demanding circuit, and Max has just been relieved at the wheel by his British teammate.