Max Verstappen had to settle for a top-three finish at the end of the opening qualifying practice session for the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Verstappen, making his 24-hour debut in a Mercedes AMG-GT3, alongside team-mates Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer, wasted no time in taking to the track, to the delight of the tens of thousands of fans at the Nordschelife.
Within a minute of the session starting, the four-time F1 champion took to the circuit, but it ultimately proved to be a tricky session to navigate for all of the crews as it was marked by yellow flags, code 60 moments and even a terrifying crash across the two and a half hours.
It was not until the first hour had passed that Verstappen finally had the opportunity to unleash, clocking a lap of 8:18.539s, eight seconds faster than the leading time at that stage, posted by Jordan Pepper in Rowe Racing's BMW M4 GT3.
For a lengthy period, it appeared as if Verstappen would emerge with the leading lap, only to slip to third by the session end, albeit at a time when he had long been out of the car after handing over the wheel to Juncadella and then Gounon.
With half an hour remaining, Verstappen and his Verstappen Racing team-mates were usurped, notably by the second Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Team Ravenol, driven by Fabian Schiller, who finished with a time of 8:14.957s.
Raffaele Marciello also dipped below Verstappen's time for Rowe Racing by just under half a second before rain late on prevented any improvement for those on track.
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