Motorsport photoFor a good hour and a half, Max Verstappen and his team-mate Lucas Auer were able to dream of victory in Sunday’s race of the 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers. After a brilliant performance in the opening phase, the Formula 1 star led the race with a gap of nearly 30 seconds, but an unscheduled pit stop eliminated all hopes of a win for the duo.After the 10th lap, Verstappen unexpectedly headed into the pits – too early for a planned fuel stop. The #3 Mercedes-AMG was then pushed backwards into the garage by the Winward team.

Verstappen got out, Auer got in, but there was no particular sense of urgency. Nor among the mechanics, who were working on the front of the car.“We don’t yet know exactly why, but we have damage to the splitter,” explained team manager Steve Buschmann. “That’s why we brought the car in as a precaution, to prevent anything worse from happening.”Winward is now trying to repair the car so that Auer can complete more test laps on the Nordschleife with a view to the 24-hour race in four weeks (May 14–17).

From a sporting perspective, however, the day is over.The opening phase of the race strongly resembled the Nurburgring Endurance Series (NLS 2) season opener, as it once again developed into an exciting duel between Verstappen and Christopher Haase. The driver of the Scherer-Phx Audi #16 (Haase/Sims/B. Green) took the lead on the second lap.In the same lap, Verstappen first overtook Thomas Preining in the Manthey Porsche #911 and Dennis Marschall in the Kondo Ferrari #45, then – just like four weeks earlier – closed in directly behind the Scherer-Phx Audi.

This time, however, the Dutchman didn’t want to admire the rear view for long, and on lap four he passed Haase at Schwedenkreuz.Over the following laps, the two engaged in a spectacular duel. Several times, Audi veteran Haase attempted attacks on Verstappen along the Dottinger Hohe straight, but the Formula 1 driver successfully defended each time. The Verstappen–Haase show came to an end after the sixth lap, when the Dutchman made his first pit stop.

Four laps later, it was clear that there would be no continuation of this epic duel on that Sunday. Read Also: Nurburgring 24h Qualifiers: Ferrari on Pole as Max Verstappen lines up fifth To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.