{"id":936100,"date":"2026-10-17T06:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T06:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936100\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T06:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T06:20:18","slug":"verstappens-hopes-take-a-hit-as-gt-rivals-steal-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936100\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen’s hopes take a hit as GT rivals steal the spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> endured a disappointing qualifying session at Portim\u00e3o on Friday, with his Verstappen Racing team managing only 15th place on the grid for Saturday’s GT<\/a> World Challenge Europe race. Despite a promising performance in free practice, the Dutchman and his teammates Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham struggled to match the pace of their rivals across the three qualifying sessions.<\/p>\n

Verstappen returned to GT racing this weekend at the Aut\u00f3dromo Internacional do Algarve, sharing the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Barnicoat and Lulham. The four-time Formula 1 world champion attracted considerable attention ahead of the event, but his team faced a difficult afternoon in Portugal.<\/p>\n

There were encouraging signs during Friday’s practice sessions. After finishing 20th in FP1, Verstappen Racing improved to fourth in FP2,<\/a> with Lulham recording the team’s fastest lap of 1:43.229. However, that pace proved difficult to reproduce when qualifying began.Verstappen Racing struggles from the opening session<\/p>\n

Unlike Formula 1, qualifying in the GT World Challenge Europe consists of three sessions in which each driver sets a lap time. The average of those three times determines the car’s starting position, making every driver’s performance crucial.<\/p>\n

Barnicoat was first behind the wheel for Verstappen Racing in Q1, but the Briton struggled to find a competitive lap. He finished 21st, almost seven tenths behind session leader Morris Schuring, who recorded a 1:42.445 in the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche.<\/p>\n

That result immediately complicated the team’s hopes of securing a strong starting position, placing considerable pressure on Lulham and Verstappen to recover the deficit. Unfortunately for the Mercedes squad, Q2 brought little improvement.<\/p>\n

Lulham, who impressed during FP2, could only manage 16th place, finishing approximately eight tenths behind Dorian Boccolacci’s benchmark of 1:41.856. With both teammates outside the top 15 in their respective sessions, Verstappen faced an enormous challenge heading into Q3.<\/p>\n

\"3-1MDH8690\"\/<\/p>\n

Photo: SRO\/JEP<\/p>\n

Verstappen unable to rescue qualifying as Porsche takes pole<\/p>\n

The Dutchman finally took to the track for the third and final qualifying segment, but his efforts were not enough to transform the team’s fortunes.<\/p>\n

Verstappen finished Q3 in 15th position, leaving the #3 Mercedes-AMG 15th in the combined classification<\/a> and confirming a midfield starting position for Saturday’s race.<\/p>\n

At the front, the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche secured pole position with a combined average lap time of 1:42.071. The #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG finished second, followed by the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche. The #64 HRT Ford Racing entry secured fourth place, while the #50 AF Corse Ferrari completed the top five.<\/p>\n

Verstappen was not the only major name to experience qualifying disappointment. MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi also endured a frustrating Q2 session after initially climbing to ninth place. However, his lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving the Italian without a valid time in the session.<\/p>\n

For Verstappen Racing, the contrast between fourth place in FP2 and 15th on the starting grid represents a disappointing outcome to Friday’s running. Verstappen, Barnicoat and Lulham will now start Saturday’s race from the midfield at Portim\u00e3o.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen endured a disappointing qualifying session at Portim\u00e3o on Friday, with his Verstappen Racing team managing only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,3673,60273,1885,2190,82],"class_list":["post-936100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-general","tag-gt","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}