The F1 star triumphed in his first GT3 race at the infamous ‘Green Hell’ circuit in Germany on Saturday
Max Verstappen was victorious in his first GT3 race at the Nurburgring on Saturday to cap off a sensational month of triumphs for the F1 star.
After obtaining his A-licence a fortnight ago to race the infamous 12.94-mile Nordschleife circuit, known as “The Green Hell”, Verstappen teamed up with British 22-year-old driver Chris Lulham to compete in the four-hour NLS (Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie) race on Saturday.
Verstappen and Lulham qualified in third, but the Dutchman took the lead at the start before opening up an astonishing one-minute lead on the rest of the 100-plus field.
Lulham, who races for Verstappen’s team in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup as well as the Dutchman’s sim racing outfit, Team Redline, then took over and sealed the win by 24 seconds.
It concludes a remarkable September for four-time F1 world champion Verstappen who, alongside his Nurburgring exploits, won grands prix in Italy and Azerbaijan and now only trails F1 championship leader Oscar Piastri by 69 points with seven races to go.
"The first two stints went really well, the car worked perfectly in the dry," said a delighted Verstappen, after the race on Saturday.
"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."
Verstappen, 27, drove a Ferrari 296 GT3 and impressed throughout the weekend, also setting the fastest lap of the race by more than
The Dutchman could seek a place at the prestigious 24 Hours of Nurburgring event next year (16-17 May), particularly given it falls on a weekend with no F1 race, in between grands prix in Miami and Canada, and the Red Bull F1 driver refused to rule out competing in the event.
"Of course, I would really like to compete in the 24 Hours at some point," Verstappen said on Saturday. "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.
"For me, it's very important to be able to do those things [outside F1]. Of course, how much I can do during an F1 season is a bit tricky. Also, next year, new regulations, it's already hard enough in Formula 1, but yeah, we'll just see how everything goes.
"It depends on how next season goes with the new rules. It's impossible to say now if I can compete in other things outside of that."
Verstappen will next be in action in Formula 1 at the Singapore Grand Prix – a race he has never won – this weekend.
Category: General Sports
