Mercedes-AMG Team RAVENOL won the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hours with the No. 80 car. Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller and Maxime Martin delivered the marque's first victory in the race since 2016, while Engel took his second overall win at the event.
The winning Mercedes-AMG GT3 did not start from an ideal position. The No. 80 crew began the race from 25th on the grid, then worked its way through the field over the following hours. Its biggest threat became the other high-profile Mercedes-AMG, the No. 3 associated with Max Verstappen. With roughly three and a half hours remaining, that car appeared to be on course for victory before a driveshaft failure ended its challenge.
The closing stages produced further drama behind the leader. At the flag, the No. 84 Abt Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 was classified second ahead of the Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO. That order did not survive the post-race technical process.
On 12 June, the stewards disqualified the No. 84 Lamborghini after a power-output irregularity put it outside the permitted Balance of Performance tolerance. Abt chose not to appeal, making the revised result final. Walkenhorst's Aston Martin moved to second and the Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO to third. The other five GT3 cars inspected, including the winning Mercedes-AMG, were cleared without issue.
For Mercedes-AMG, the result carried particular weight. It ended a decade-long wait for another Nürburgring 24 Hours win, and it came in front of a record crowd of 352,000 spectators according to the organiser. On a circuit and in an event where traffic, weather, mechanical stress and strategy can erase outright speed in minutes, the No. 80's combination of pace and durability proved decisive.