Max Verstappen stepped in to race the #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 at the GTWC finale in Portimao. The Dutchman teamed up with Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat in the absence of Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon, who had a WEC clash. Let’s have a look at how the Dutchman fared on his GTWC debut.
Verstappen is no stranger to racing the Mercedes AMG GT3. The four-time F1 champion raced it at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring earlier this year, when the car retired from the lead of the race.
The regular #3 Verstappen Racing drivers Juncadella and Gounon had a clash with the WEC, hence the Dutchman stepped in to race at Portimao. IndyCar champion Alex Palou was expected to partner Verstappen and Lulham, but instead it’ll be Ben Barnicoat.
Max Verstappen finished the FP1 session on Friday in P20, but the Red Bull driver was just four tenths off the pace of the leader. The Dutchman also had an incident early in FP1.
Just a couple of minutes into the session, Verstappen made contact with Ezequiel Perez Companc in the #25 Sainteloc Racing going into Turn 3. This spun Companc’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II around. Race Control investigated the incident, and the F1 star was given a reprimand and one penalty point.
Verstappen was primarily in the car for the FP1, with a 48-minute first stint, and then jumping in for the final eight minutes.
FP2 went seamlessly, with Verstappen setting a lap time good enough to be on the fringes of the Top 10. Ultimately, it was Chris Lulham who took the car over for the final stint, setting a lap time to finish the FP2 session in P4.
Max Verstappen qualifies P15 for the GTWC Finale at Portimao
The qualifying format of the GTWCE takes the fastest lap time of all three drivers and averages it out. For the #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes AMG GT3, Ben Barnicoat was the first one out on track
He set a lap time of 1:43.124s, putting him 21st fastest. Chris Lulham was the next one out. His first flying lap was a 1:42.655s, pushing the #3 Verstappen Racing entry to 10th on the grid with a combined average time of 1:42.889s. He continued for a second lap but failed to improve. By the time Q2 ended, the #3 Mercedes was 15th on average time.
Max Verstappen was last to take to the track in the Mercedes for the final ten minutes in Q3. The Dutchman’s first lap was 1:42.216s with 32.081s, 32.542s and 37.593s being the split times for the first, second and third sector respectfully.
The four-time F1 champion attempted a second lap and was quicker through the first sector, but not in the next two sectors, improving the lap time to 1:42.093s.
