Helmut Marko has given his blessing to Max Verstappen's participation in the Nurburgring 24 Hour race but rules out Le Mans.

The move follows the four-time world champion successfully earning the Nordschleife Permit necessary to compete in the classic event.

The 2026 Nurburgring 24 takes place on the weekend between the Miami and Canadian Grands Prix, and when asked if the Dutch driver will be released in order to take part, Marko's response was emphatic.

"Yes!" he told Sport.de. "I think it's great that a Formula 1 driver, who has many obligations in addition to the races, simulator, marketing and PR dates, takes the time for such a thing with huge enthusiasm," he added.

However, the Austrian was not so supportive when asked about a potential entry at Le Mans.

"Le Mans is not in the program," he said. "The speed differences and the different categories are even bigger. For the time being, long distance is only the Nurburgring."

"Helmut... he's very excited about it," Verstappen told reporters in Baku. "He sees how passionate I am about it and what I'm doing for it.

"He has raced, of course, himself in endurance, so it's easier to relate. For me, it's very important to be able to do those things."

With the regulations overhaul surely the Dutchman will have enough to deal with.

"Of course, how much I can do during an F1 season is a bit tricky, right?" he said. "Also, with the new regulations... it's already hard enough in Formula 1, but we'll just see how everything goes. For me, it's impossible to say right now what will happen in five or ten years on F1's side or GT's side.

"The atmosphere is really good," he said of GT, "a lot of passionate endurance fans are always there anyway. And it's kind of my hobby as well, racing in other kinds of motorsport.

"Of course, my dream is eventually to do the 24-hour race, so I knew that that licence needed to come. It was the perfect opportunity to do so."

Nico Hulkenberg, who won at Le Mans, fully supports Verstappen's desire to race in other categories.

"It honourable how much he loves racing," said the Sauber driver, "how much time he puts into it. Formula 1, sim stuff, GT... he's just such a passionate racer, fully committed to it, 24/7, lives and breathes it.

"I kind of admire it. I did it. I had a taste of it in 2015 - slightly different, of course - but if I would want to do that now, I'm not so sure. It was fun back then. But, yeah, just hats off to Max."

"Max likes racing, he's very clear about that," said Liam Lawson. "He loves racing on his sim, and when he gets a break it seems he's going to another track to test or drive other cars, which for him is pretty cool.

"In those kinds of cars as well, I loved my season in DTM. The racing is very close, it's exciting. As drivers, you get a lot closer to each other and it feels a lot closer. It's very difficult to do that in Formula 1. So it's exciting."

"I drive quite a lot of GT cars because of my dad, he has the racing team," added Kimi Anrtonelli, "so I end up driving GT quite a lot as well.

"Even though it's a different car, it's still really good training to prove your skills - you have to adapt to a different car. Obviously GTs have very different behaviour compared to a Formula 1 car. When I go into GT, I try to challenge myself and get up to speed as quickly as possible. I also did a race two years ago with a GT, which was a different experience but quite fun."