Max Verstappen reacts as 'incredibly tough' Nurburgring target achieved

Max Verstappen has stated he found it “incredibly tough” to progress into the final qualifying stage for the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

Verstappen was tasked with driving during Top Qualifying 2 and needed to finish inside the top seven to qualify for the pole shootout.

He successfully achieved that and will now hand over to Dani Juncadella for the final run, as the #3 entry aims to take pole position later today.

Having set the goal of reaching the final shootout, Verstappen was left satisfied after navigating a highly competitive session.

"I felt comfortable in the car. Our goal was to reach the Top Qualifying 3," Verstappen said, as quoted by motorsport.com. 

"That is obviously not easy with the competition out there. It is incredibly tough, there are a lot of fast cars, but we just barely managed to get in between them. 

“So that last lap was just good enough.

"And yes, that was nice. Fortunately, it was dry, the car felt fine, and we managed to make it. That was the goal.”

On Thursday evening, Verstappen got behind the wheel during a late practice session to experience conditions in the dark.

Having successfully navigated the challenging conditions, Verstappen said he feels in the best possible shape ahead of the race start on Saturday.

"Yesterday, of course, we had a lot of changing conditions, and for me it was the first time in the dark,” he said.

“[It was] probably also immediately under the worst possible conditions with rain and fog rolling in.

“But at least I got a good first impression of what we might also expect during the race. So that was good.

"To be honest, I think we have prepared ourselves as well as possible as a team, also during the recent races. 

“And now this weekend… it really is a very professional group of people who put their heart and soul into everything. So we are hoping for a good result.”