Max Verstappen believes there is a good chance of victory in his GT3 debut at the Nurburgring, after the Formula 1 champion set a stunning qualifying time.
The Red Bull driver is making his category debut at the infamous Nordschleife in a Ferrari 296 alongside British driver Chris Lulham, in the NLS series, adorned in Verstappen.com Racing x Red Bull colours.
With the race coming up on Saturday afternoon, Verstappen took to the ‘Green Hell’ to qualify for the event, but was delayed by fog that descended upon the circuit.
After initial running on Intermediate tyres, Verstappen went back out on slicks, and set a 8:09.206s, only three seconds off the pole position time to secure third place on the grid.
The Dutchman attributed the deficit to traffic on his best run, but despite that, has high hopes for the race.
“It actually went really well on the Intermediates, the car was running super,” the Dutchman said.
However, as the track dried and the transition to slicks came about for the field, Verstappen detailed the problem which cost him a shot at pole.
“It’s not easy to time your run well here,” he added.
“On my last lap, I ran into way too much traffic to make a good lap.
“But everything is going really well. The tyres are good, so I believe that normally in the race everything should still be possible.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen prepares Ferrari GT3 for Nurburgring challenge
Discussion about this post