Max Verstappen wins on NLS GT3 debut

Max Verstappen took an emphatic victory on his GT3 debut at the Nordschleife in the Nurburgring Endurance Series.

Driving a Ferrari 296 entered by Emil Frey Racing alongside team-mate Chris Lulham, Verstappen jumped from third to first at the start and proceeded to create a gap of approximately one minute at the front of the field over the first two hours of the race, with metronomic consistency.

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The four-time Formula 1 world champion then handed the car over to Lulham, with the 22-year-old Briton managing his advantage to cross the finish line 24.5 seconds ahead of the Ford Mustang GT3 shared by Dennis Fetzer, Jann Mardenborough and Fabio Scherer.

“The first two stints went really well, the car worked perfectly in the dry,” Verstappen commented after the race. “We had a bit of bad luck in qualifying, but in the race everything with the traffic worked out fine. I think I didn’t make any major mistakes in those two stints.

“And to win here on my very first attempt – that’s just fantastic.”

The Dutchman, who will celebrate his 28th birthday on Tuesday, added that he hoped to take part in the prestigious Nurburgring 24 Hours in the future, also in GT3 machinery.

“Of course, I would really like to compete in the 24 Hours at some point,” he admitted. “If it happens next year, I’ll say so – but we still need more experience. That’s the way it is, so hopefully we’ll do more races here next year.”

Additional reporting by Heiko Stritzke