Verstappen finishes ninth in Portimão GT race after Lulham penalty drops team to 24th

Penalty removes a podium chance

The three-hour GT World Challenge Europe race at Portimão in Portugal ran on 17 October 2026, with three Verstappen Racing drivers sharing the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Ben Barnicoat drove the opening stint, Chris Lulham took the middle one, and Verstappen closed the race. Sources differ on the starting position: NOS reports the team started 13th, while gelderlander.nl says it qualified 15th and moved up to 14th after a Ford was disqualified.

Lulham was running sixth when the car made contact with a Mercedes driven by Luca Stolz, according to Telegraaf. Gelderlander.nl reports that Stolz spun as a result. The stewards handed the team a drive-through penalty, which forced the car through the pit lane without a stop and cost it several places. Telegraaf and NOS both say the penalty ended any realistic run at the podium, and NOS notes that the car was already well behind the leaders by the time Verstappen took over.

A late charge from 24th

Verstappen rejoined around three quarters of an hour before the finish, starting from 24th after the penalty. Over the closing stages, a full-course neutralisation and a late safety car period gave him openings, and he moved steadily through the field, passing several cars at once in one sequence. NOS reports he finished ninth, 18 seconds behind the winner. The live reporting shows him passing cars from lower classes in the final laps and reaching 13th, then 16th and 19th as the race went on.

The win went to a Mercedes-AMG entry crewed by Ralf Aron, Maximilian Götz and Fabian Schiller, according to NOS. Telegraaf credits the winning car to Team GetSpeed. Dutch driver Morris Schuring finished on the podium. Valentino Rossi, who started from 59th with Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen in a BMW of Team WRT, finished 50th after an early pit stop for technical problems.

Earlier problems in the Nürburgring programme

Verstappen had already raced a few times on the Nürburgring Nordschleife this year, and none of those outings went smoothly. In March his team won a four-hour race, but he was later disqualified because too many tyre sets were used over the weekend. In April the team had technical problems during qualifying races for the 24 Hours, and at the 24-hour race itself in May, where he was strong, a driveshaft failure ended the effort, according to Telegraaf. NOS notes that the May race was the first long-distance event he had entered since that weekend, and that he had retired from the lead.

What comes next

Verstappen has a busy Formula 1 schedule ahead, with races in Austin, Mexico and Brazil on the calendar. Telegraaf reports that he wants to return to GT3 racing next year alongside his Formula 1 commitments. Revenge at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring and a start at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps are both on his list. He has also said he is considering the 24 Hours of Daytona.