Max Verstappen Conquers the Nordschleife in His GT3 Debut
Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen secured an impressive victory in his first GT3 race at Nordschleife on Saturday.
Verstappen, competing in an Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 alongside Chris Lulham in the Nürburgring Endurance Series, finished 24.5 seconds ahead of the Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Fetzer, Jann Mardenborough and Fabio Scherer, who placed second.
This was Verstappen’s debut in endurance racing, after having tested at the Nordschleife, 13 miles long and nicknamed “the Green Hell”, earlier this year under the alias “Franz Hermann”.
Max Verstappen achieved a victory outside of Formula 1 on Saturday.The Nordschleife circuit is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. It hosted the German Grand Prix and was also the site of Niki Lauda’s famous accident in 1976.
In recent years, Verstappen has shown a growing interest in competing outside of F1.
Red Bull has allowed him to participate, as there is a growing internal belief that Verstappen’s long-term participation in Formula 1 will be linked to the number of races he is allowed to run outside the world championship.
Verstappen has also expressed his desire to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the future.
Currently, he is 44 points behind Lando Norris, who is in second place, and 69 points behind leader Oscar Piastri in the F1 drivers’ standings.
