Verstappen to Make GTWC Europe Race Debut at Portimao

Four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen has confirmed that he will make his GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS debut in next month’s season finale at Portimao.

There had been speculation that the Dutchman could step in to drive his team’s Verstappen Racing 2 Seas Motorsport-operated Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for the Endurance Cup showdown on Oct. 17 because both Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella are set to prioritize their clashing FIA World Endurance Championship commitments at Barcelona with Alpine and Genesis respectively.

Now speaking in a pre-event press conference for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang, Verstappen has confirmed that he will race the Mercedes-AMG in Portimao as there is no clashing F1 contest.

“Well, I know that two of my drivers won’t be part of the line-up, so two other drivers need to step in, and I’m looking forward to it,” Verstappen said of his GTWC Europe debut.

“It’s going to be a busy seven weeks, but I enjoy it anyway, so yeah, let’s see what we can do there.”

Verstappen and team regular Chris Lulham will be joined by Ben Barnicoat for the three-hour Portimao contest, the latter having also made a one-off outing for 2 Seas Motorsport in the Nürburgring GTWC Europe round last year.

Verstappen has made several GT3 appearances in the past couple of seasons, including playing a starring role in the Nürburgring 24 this year when his car was on course to win until driveshaft woes intervened with four hours to go.

Last month Verstappen had said he will “probably” tackle next year’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa as well as launching another N24 bid as neither event is due to be held on an F1 weekend.

However, Verstappen is not the first current F1 driver to have tackled a GTWC Europe round this year as Aston Martin racer Lance Stroll participated in the Endurance Cup opener at Paul Ricard amid an extended break in the F1 season following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East.