Samwise Sportscar & Endurance Newsletter
Friday, May 15, 2026
Ferrari Kondo Racing Claims Nürburgring 24 Hours Pole in Top Qualifying
Ferrari's Kondo Racing entry claimed pole position for the 2026 24 Hours of Nürburgring on Friday, with Thierry Vermeulen setting the fastest Top Qualifying lap of 8m10.275s in the #45 van Realize Kondo Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo. David Jahn narrowly missed pole in the Gamota BMW, finishing just one thousandth of a second behind Vermeulen's time, while the Scherer-PHX Audi took third. Manthey Racing's legendary Grello Porsche 911 GT3 R lined up fourth. Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen, driving the #3 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3, will start fifth alongside teammates Lucas Auer, Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella, after Lucas Auer drove the car in Top Qualifying.
Sources: Motorsport.com
BMW's Hypercar Championship Lead Sharpens the Le Mans Title Battle
BMW M Team WRT arrives at Le Mans as the team to beat, sitting atop both the drivers and manufacturers championships with 59 points heading into the season centrepiece on June 13–14. The German marque's double victory at the 6 Hours of Spa gave René Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns a seven-point cushion over Toyota in the manufacturers standings, with only 12 points separating the top six driver crews. Ferrari, Aston Martin, Cadillac and Peugeot all loom as potential Le Mans threats. The June race awards double championship points compared to a standard six-hour event, making it the season's most decisive single weekend.
Sources: 24h-lemans.com
Winward Mercedes Tops Nürburgring 24 Hours Opening Qualifying Session
The sister Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Maro Engel, Maxime Martin, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz topped the opening qualifying session at the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours on Thursday, beating the Rowe Racing BMW of Raffaele Marciello, Sheldon van der Linde, Augusto Farfus and Jordan Pepper by less than a second. Max Verstappen placed third in the #3 Winward entry alongside Gounon, Auer and Juncadella, completing a Mercedes one-two-three on pace. The session did not determine race grid position, with Friday's Top Qualifying sessions providing the definitive starting order for the 161-car grid.
Sources: Motorsport.com
Snow and Hail Strike Nürburgring in Wild Thursday Qualifying Conditions
Extraordinary weather struck the Nürburgring during Thursday's qualifying sessions for the 24 Hours race, with snow and hail falling on sections of the 25.378-kilometre Nordschleife circuit. Drivers described handling the rapid conditions changes as one of the circuit's defining challenges, with grip levels varying dramatically between different parts of the track. The wintry conditions added further complexity to setup decisions, as teams balanced dry-weather performance against changeable track conditions likely to persist through Friday's critical Top Qualifying sessions. Despite the disruption, the entire 161-car entry list completed laps on track across the multi-class format.
Sources: GPFans
Nürburgring Race Director Acts on Verstappen Fan Congestion in Paddock
The Nürburgring 24 Hours race director implemented additional security measures on Thursday after the presence of Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen drew unprecedented fan interest to the paddock, creating crowd congestion that disrupted team operations. Verstappen's participation in the #3 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 entry has produced record-breaking ticket sales, with general admission tickets selling out weeks in advance for the first time in the race's history. All multi-day weekend tickets were exhausted before race week began. Race officials took action to manage spectator flow, separating public access from working zones to allow driver and team preparations to continue uninterrupted.
Sources: GPFans
Five Key Storylines Heading Into the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours
The 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours enters its race weekend with five compelling storylines headlining Autosport's pre-race analysis. Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen is the headline act in his Nordschleife debut, but the more pressing question is whether the decade-long Mercedes winless streak at the event can finally end. BMW's Rowe Racing entry of Raffaele Marciello, Sheldon van der Linde, Augusto Farfus and Jordan Pepper starts as the outright favourite, given BMW's record 21 victories at the event. The BMW M3 Touring 24H, a factory-built estate wagon inspired by a viral April Fools' post that generated 1.6 million views, also races in the experimental SPX class.
Sources: Autosport
Dunlop Returns to Nürburgring 24 Hours as Tyre Diversity Adds Strategic Intrigue
Dunlop makes its return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2026, with the British tyre manufacturer supplying rubber to several entries in contrast to the dominant Yokohama and Pirelli runners. Schnabl Engineering runs a split approach, entering one car on Dunlop and another on Falken tyres within the same team structure. The new Dunlop compound has attracted interest from SP9 GT3 runners seeking an alternative to the established tyre hierarchy, with tyre choice representing one of the key strategic differentiators across the 161-car grid. Daily Sportscar's Thursday paddock notebook also noted record attendance prompting revised access arrangements ahead of Saturday's race start.
Sources: Daily Sportscar
GT Open Spa 500: 32 GT3 Cars Prepare for 2h40 Ardennes Endurance Test
The International GT Open returns to Spa-Francorchamps for its 2026 Spa 500 endurance event on May 25, with 32 GT3 cars from eight manufacturers set for the 2h40 challenge. Championship leader Greystone GT's #33 McLaren of Dean Macdonald and Zac Meakin carries 25 points into the race, facing pressure from ZRS Motorsport's Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, which secured the first European race win for that model earlier this season. Two Aston Martin entries return to the Ardennes track for the single-race endurance format, which replaces the series' usual sprint pairing. Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes-AMG and Lamborghini also feature across the eight-manufacturer grid.
Sources: Daily Sportscar
WEC Hypercar — Drivers
1. R. Rast / R. Frijns — 35 pts
2. B. Hartley / R. Hirakawa / S. Buemi — 26 pts
3. S. van der Linde — 25 pts
4. K. Kobayashi / M. Conway / N. de Vries — 25 pts
5. K. Magnussen / R. Marciello — 24 pts
6. A. Fuoco / M. Molina / N. Nielsen — 23 pts
7. A. Pier Guidi / A. Giovinazzi / J. Calado — 19 pts
8. D. Vanthoor — 18 pts
9. H. Tincknell / T. Gamble — 14 pts
10. A. Felix da Costa / C. Milesi / F. Habsburg — 12 pts
11. P. Hanson / R. Kubica / Y. Ye — 9 pts
12. N. Cassidy / S. Vandoorne / P. di Resta — 8 pts
13. A. Lotterer / P. Derani / M. Jaubert — 4 pts
14. E. Bamber / S. Bourdais — 4 pts
15. N. Nato / W. Stevens — 2 pts
16. L. Deletraz — 2 pts
17. M. Jakobsen / L. Duval / T. Pourchaire — 1 pts
WEC Hypercar — Teams
1. BMW — 59 pts
2. Toyota — 52 pts
3. Ferrari — 42 pts
4. Aston Martin — 14 pts
5. Alpine — 14 pts
6. Peugeot — 9 pts
7. Cadillac — 8 pts
8. Genesis — 6 pts
IMSA GTP — Drivers
1. L. Heinrich / S. Bourdais (JDC-Miller Porsche) — ldr pts
2. J. Aitken — -21 pts
3. E. Bamber / A. Varrone (Cadillac) — — pts
4. F. Nasr / J. Andlauer (Porsche Penske) — — pts
5. R. Frijns / R. van der Linde (BMW) — — pts
IMSA GTP — Teams
1. Porsche — ldr pts
2. Cadillac — -52 pts
3. Acura — -120 pts
4. BMW — — pts
5. Aston Martin — — pts
Curated by JD · samwise.agency