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The Verstappen Racing crew of Max Verstappen, Chris Lulham, and Ben Barnicoat endured a frustrating qualifying session ahead of the GT World Challenge Europe three-hour season finale in Portimão, securing just 15th on the grid.
The disappointment for the No. 3 crew was amplified by the pace of the leading Mercedes-AMG GT3—the No. 17 GetSpeed entry driven by Ralf Aron, Maximilian Götz, and Fabian Schiller—which locked down a front-row spot in second.
Struggles for the Verstappen-backed entry, run in partnership with 2 Seas Motorsport, began early in Q1 when Ben Barnicoat could manage only 21st, 0.679 seconds adrift of pacesetter Morris Schuring in the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).
Chris Lulham, who holds the most experience in the car among the trio, took over for Q2 but finished 16th in his group, trailing session leader Boccolacci by 0.799 seconds.
Max Verstappen was unable to haul the car up the order in Q3, although his 0.441-second deficit to surprise leader Simon Birch (No. 71 Selected Car Leasing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo) was the smallest of the three segments. The Dutchman posted the crew's quickest lap of 1:42.093 as track temperatures fell late in the session.
An average lap time of 1:42.624 across the three drivers ultimately left the No. 3 car down in 15th position.
Setup Changes Fail to Deliver
The Verstappen Racing machine struggled with compliance at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve throughout the weekend. Running a low ride height caused aggressive bottoming out and excessive bouncing over bumps, resulting in understeer through long, sweeping corners that quickly transitioned to sharp snap-oversteer on exit.
Following qualifying, Barnicoat admitted that setup changes made after free practice took the team in the wrong direction.
"We felt we were lacking a bit of pace. We were up near the top in practice, but none of us felt completely happy with the balance. We tried a few adjustments that clearly didn't work out. There was heavy sparking and bouncing down the straights. We just fell out of the car's sweet spot," Barnicoat explained.
Despite the setback, the British driver remains optimistic ahead of the main race:
"For me, adapting to the Mercedes is still a learning curve because it handles quite differently from the Lexus I'm used to. However, Max and Chris showed strong race pace, so I'm confident we'll be in the mix. Everyone in this team knows how to win, including a four-time world champion. We know how to turn things around and we will push flat out to charge through the field."
Morris Schuring, Dorian Boccolacci, and Alessio Picariello secured an emotional pole position for Boutsen VDS. The squad, led by Olivier Laine and Olivia Boutsen—sister of former Formula 1 driver Thierry Boutsen—dedicated the result to team co-owner Marc van der Straten, who passed away in July at the age of 78.
Following benchmark laps from Schuring and Boccolacci in the opening segments, Picariello's seventh-place time in Q3 proved more than enough to seal pole position. Their combined average of 1:42.071 gave Boutsen VDS top spot by 0.108 seconds over the No. 17 GetSpeed Mercedes.
Third on the grid went to the Lionspeed Porsche No. 80 (Ricardo Feller, Bastian Buus, and Thomas Preining), ahead of the No. 64 HRT Ford Racing Mustang (Maxime Oosten, Fabio Scherer, and Eduardo Coseteng).
Six different manufacturers secured spots in the top 10: three Ferraris, two Mercedes-AMGs, two Porsches, and one each from Ford, McLaren, and Aston Martin. An ultra-tight session saw 29 cars blanketed by just one second, while BMW endured a particularly difficult qualifying outing.
The top BMW qualifier was the No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, and Charles Weerts, placing 14th.
The season-ending three-hour endurance race gets underway today at 19:00 local time.
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