Max Verstappen will race the GT World Challenge finale at Portimão
He shares the Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG with Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat on 17 October, because Juncadella and Gounon race the WEC in Barcelona
Max Verstappen will make his GT World Challenge Europe debut at Portimão. The Red Bull driver confirmed on Wednesday, in the drivers’ press conference at Sepang, that he will race his own team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the Endurance Cup finale on Saturday 17 October.
He takes over the number 3 car alongside full-season driver Chris Lulham, with experienced British GT driver Ben Barnicoat completing the line-up, SRO confirmed in its official announcement. The car is run by 2 Seas Motorsport under the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing name.
“I am looking forward to it,” Verstappen said in the announcement. “It is going to be a busy seven weeks, but I will enjoy it. Let’s see what we can do at Portimão. I love the track and being in Portugal, so we will try to have a good weekend.”
Juncadella and Gounon are needed in Barcelona
The seat is open because the team’s usual line-up has a clash. Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon both race Hypercars in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Juncadella for Genesis and Gounon for Alpine, and the WEC races in Barcelona on the same weekend. We wrote in August about the October date clash between the WEC and GT World Challenge and the choices it would force on teams and drivers. Verstappen has now made his.
Juncadella still has a bigger job first. This weekend he goes for the Sprint Cup title in the same car at Barcelona, half a point behind second place, as our Sprint Cup finale preview explains.
Alonso is not in the car
The announcement also ended a short-lived rumour. Fernando Alonso had hinted at surprises in the coming weeks, which set off talk of a shared GT3 drive in Portugal. Verstappen shut it down. “No, no, he’s not driving with me,” he said, PlanetF1 reports.
His first GT3 race since leading the Nürburgring 24 Hours
Portimão will be Verstappen’s first GT3 race since the Nürburgring 24 Hours in May, where his Mercedes-AMG was leading before a technical failure with around four hours to go, Speedcafe notes. He shared that car, in the second round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, with Jules Gounon, Dani Juncadella and Lucas Auer. He already knows the circuit from Formula 1, where he finished on the podium at both Portuguese Grands Prix in 2020 and 2021.
It also fits the plan he set out last week. In Baku he named the Nürburgring and Spa as his likely 24-hour races for 2027 and ruled out Le Mans, as we wrote in Verstappen picks the Nürburgring and Spa for 2027. A three-hour race in the GT World Challenge is a useful step towards that, with the same car, the same team and a full field of professional GT3 crews.
No title at stake, plenty of attention
The Endurance Cup itself is already settled. Winward Racing sealed the title at the Nürburgring in August, as we reported in Comtoyou wins at the Nürburgring as Winward seal the Endurance Cup. That leaves Portimão as a race to win rather than a title to defend, and with Verstappen in the field, and Valentino Rossi in a Team WRT BMW according to Crash.net, it will draw far more eyes than a normal finale. SRO expects a grid of 60 GT3 cars. A weekend ticket costs 25 euros and a Saturday ticket 15 euros, with children aged 16 and under free, according to the announcement. New to the series? Read how GT World Challenge Europe works and how FIA driver ratings decide which drivers can share a car.
Our hunch: a podium is realistic, a win needs everything to go right
Verstappen’s Nordschleife run showed he does not need long to be quick in a GT3 car, and Lulham knows this Mercedes inside out. But a three-hour race is not won by one fast driver. Three people share the stints, pit stops and driver changes have to be clean, and the Balance of Performance decides how much the car is allowed to show. The established crews have raced together all season, while this particular line-up has never shared a car. Verstappen Racing has been on the GT World Challenge grid since 2025 and stepped up to the Pro class this year, taking its first overall win in the Sprint Cup at Magny-Cours and its first Endurance Cup podium at the Nürburgring, SRO notes. We think a podium is a fair target. A win would say a lot about how far this team has come in its first year with Mercedes-AMG.
Does Verstappen win at Portimão on his GT World Challenge debut, or is a podium the best he can hope for? Tell us in the comments.
Saturday 17 October at 17:00 local time
According to the official event timetable, free practice runs on Friday 16 October at 08:45 local time and qualifying at 17:55. The three-hour race starts on Saturday 17 October at 17:00 local time, which is 18:00 in the Netherlands and Belgium. We will follow it on the RNT live blog, and you can read more about his career in our Max Verstappen driver profile. Next season’s dates are already on our GT World Challenge Europe calendar 2027.
