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What should have been a landmark victory at the 58th ADAC Barbarossapreis has instead turned into a technical nightmare for Max Verstappen, Jules Gounon, and Daniel Juncadella. The trio has been officially stripped of its win in the second round of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) after a breach of tyre regulations.
The #3 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, which had dominated the race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, was excluded following a post-race inspection. A barcode scan of the tyre logs revealed the team had used seven sets of tyres, exceeding the strict race-day limit of six.
In the NLS, the regulations leave no room for interpretation. Exceeding the tyre allocation results in automatic disqualification — and in this case, there was no alternative outcome.
Winward Team Principal Christian Hohenadel did not dispute the ruling.
"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," he explained.
The race marked the team’s first appearance as a full Mercedes-AMG Performance Team on the Nordschleife, adding further weight to the setback.
"It was our first outing as a full Mercedes-AMG Performance Team on the Nordschleife, and I want to apologize to all the fans who were cheering us on."
Hohenadel made clear that the focus now shifts to internal review and improvement.
"We’ll analyze every single process today, learn from it, and come back even stronger for the 24 Hours."
With the #3 AMG excluded, victory is awarded to the #99 Rowe Racing BMW driven by Dan Harper and Jordan Pepper. Second place goes to the #44 Falken Porsche of Tim Heinemann and Sven Müller.
The biggest beneficiary of the reshuffle is the Losch 48 Motorsport by Black Falcon Porsche, driven by Dylan Pereira, Tobias Müller, and Patrick Assenheimer. The trio inherits third overall — a landmark result that delivers a Pro-Am class victory and a maiden overall podium finish on their SP9 debut.
Although the trophies will not follow Verstappen, Juncadella, and Gounon home, their on-track performance remains undeniable. The #3 Mercedes-AMG crossed the finish line with a commanding 59.5-second advantage — a margin that cannot be attributed to a single additional tyre set alone.
Nevertheless, the disqualification highlights the uncompromising nature of endurance racing regulations and the importance of meticulous preparation ahead of the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Should Verstappen choose to continue his Nordschleife campaign, the next NLS round is scheduled for April 11.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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