Verstappen stripped of Nurburgring win

Max Verstappen's crew has been disqualified from this Saturday's Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie race after winning on the road.

Verstappen and team-mates Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon took a comfortable win in the four-hour event in the Red Bull Formula 1 driver's first competitive outing in the Mercedes-AMG GT3.

But they were swiftly found to have used seven sets of tyres during race day (so beyond just the four-hour race itself) instead of the permitted six.

Christian Hohenadel, team boss of the Winward outfit that operates the #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes, said the disqualification "hurt" and came due to a "mistake within the team".

"I would like to apologise to everyone who was cheering us on."

Mercedes later revealed that the cause for the infraction was, remarkably, something that happened in qualifying rather than in the race itself.

"During qualifying in the morning, the team routinely exercised several driver and tyre changes. A mistake was made during this process, which ultimately led to the disqualification," it explained.

Verstappen competed in the race as preparation for his debut in the Nurburgring 24 Hours later this year.

He could yet race in the next round of the NLS series due to Formula 1 grand prix cancellations in April.

Jordan Pepper and Dan Harper in the Rowe BMW have inherited in the win following the Verstappen car's disqualification.