Fabian Schiller won the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup finale at Portimão on Saturday, taking the chequered flag 5.062 seconds clear of Bastian Buus in the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche.
Schiller shared the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG with Ralf Aron and Maxi Götz. The car started second, passed the pole-sitting #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche and was not headed again. Morris Schuring brought the #2 home third, 5.411 seconds behind the winner.
Max Verstappen’s GT World Challenge debut ended in ninth. The #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing car recovered from a drive-through penalty that had dropped it outside the top 20.
The 61-car race was interrupted by several Full Course Yellows and a Safety Car. The first neutralisation came when the #10 Porsche stopped at Turn 1 with damage. After the opening round of pit stops, the #17 led from the #2 and #80 Porsches. Luca Stolz was fourth in the #48 MANN-FILTER Mercedes, ahead of the #59 Garage 59 McLaren and Chris Lulham in the #3.
Two Porsches then went into the gravel at Turn 13. One of them needed a flat-bed lift rather than a tow, so race control called the Safety Car, which wiped out Aron’s lead. At the restart, Aron held on to first, while Sandy Loake swept around the outside of the #80 Porsche to take third in the #59 McLaren.
The restart also changed the race for the #3 car. Lulham, who had earlier passed the #64 HRT Ford Mustang around the outside between Turns 5 and 8, made contact with Stolz at Turn 8 and spun the #48 Mercedes. Stolz fell to 36th, and Lulham also lost a place to the Mustang of Thomas Drouet.
Stewards gave the #3 a drive-through penalty. The decision came late: Verstappen was already standing ready for the driver change. Lulham served the penalty, completed another lap and handed over.
Verstappen rejoined in 24th for the final 45 minutes. His stint was shorter than an hour because the pit stops and neutralisations had stretched Barnicoat’s and Lulham’s stints. He gained places when the #46 Team WRT BMW, with Max Hesse at the wheel, went into the gravel and a Lamborghini stopped at Turn 8, which brought out another Full Course Yellow. The #46, the car Valentino Rossi had qualified 59th, had already been delayed by a problem that sent it to the pits six minutes after the start.
Once racing resumed, Verstappen kept climbing. He picked his way through a three-wide battle into 13th, then passed Kelvin van der Linde’s #32 WRT BMW to break into the top 10. In the closing laps he caught Arthur Leclerc’s #50 AF Corse Ferrari, lost the place, and then took it back at Turn 11 with three minutes left. He finished 18.556 seconds behind the winner, having gained 15 places in his stint. Aurélien Panis, son of former F1 driver Olivier Panis, stayed ahead in eighth in the #6 GetSpeed Mercedes. Broadcast pictures showed the crowd cheering loudly as Verstappen climbed out of the car.
Verstappen had started 14th after a difficult qualifying for the car. Ben Barnicoat drove the opening stint.
Ahead of him, the fight for second went down to the final hour. The #2 Porsche held off the #59 McLaren and the #80 Porsche, with 0.6 seconds covering the three at one stage. Buus eventually took second, while Jack Hawksworth brought the #59 home sixth.
Frederik Schandorff finished fourth overall in the #71 Selected Car Racing BMW to win the Gold Cup class. Ignacio Montenegro won the Silver Cup in fifth with the #30 Team WRT BMW, ahead of the class’s second-placed car, Panis’s #6. Jens Klingmann was seventh in the #998 ROWE Racing BMW, second in Gold, while the #58 Garage 59 McLaren was 15th, third in class.
The #222 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes, sister to Verstappen’s Mercedes, took the Bronze Cup. Kiern Jewiss brought it home 13th overall after the car had started 60th following an electrical failure in qualifying.
Jordan Pepper also paid for contact. His BMW received a drive-through for hitting a Ferrari, and he fell from sixth to 28th.
Verstappen now heads to Austin for the United States Grand Prix. Over the weekend, he named the Spa 24 Hours as a target for next year, along with a return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
READ MORE – Max Verstappen to tackle Portimao from lowly grid position
Discussion about this post