![\"Rivals](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/G138U_PWQAA6WbF.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Verstappen celebrates his debut GT3 win. Image: Verstappen.com<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Verstappen celebrates his debut GT3 win. Image: Verstappen.com<\/p>\n
The four-time Formula 1 world champion partnered Chris Lulham in the #31 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 at the ninth round of the NLS Series.<\/p>\n
Verstappen stormed from third on the grid to the lead at the first corner and built a gap of over a minute in his opening two-hour stint.<\/p>\n
Lulham finished the job to secure a 20-second victory, but rivals were already resigned to the outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs everyone knows, he is the best track driver in the world,\u201d said Ford Mustang GT3 driver Frank Stippler, who finished third.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m not surprised by his overall win. When you also combine that with a driver lineup of that calibre, winning is the only logical outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stippler added that the debate around Verstappen\u2019s pace during the race was meaningless.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s arguably the best driver in the world, so I find all this discussion about his lap times absolutely laughable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Formula 1, the others are missing something crucial, so why would that be different in GT3? That\u2019s just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen suggested Verstappen\u2019s speed would translate into outright domination if he enters next May\u2019s Nurburgring 24 Hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was one minute ahead after two hours of racing. Do the math, and you\u2019re one and a half laps ahead of a 24-hour race,\u201d Bleekemolen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how good he was. Verstappen was faster than the rest, better than the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five-time Nurburgring 24 Hours winner Timo Bernhard called the drive \u201cemotional,\u201d praising how Verstappen approached the challenge of the Nordschleife.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a huge talent, as we know,\u201d Bernhard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNordschleife is something special, and he really honours the place also, that\u2019s something I cherish.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victory earned Verstappen the inaugural \u2018Fahrer des Tages\u2019 award and strengthened his case for a return to the circuit in GT3 machinery.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman, who turned 28 this week, admitted the 24 Hours remains the target.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, I would love to compete in the 24-hour race, whether that happens next year or later, but we still need more experience for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen celebrates his debut GT3 win. Image: Verstappen.com The four-time Formula 1 world champion partnered Chris Lulham…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,825,22708,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-179045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-max-verstappen","14":"tag-slot1_f1","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}