Verstappen's GTWCE debut might be for fun, but there's wider implications

This is the first step in preparing for Spa next year

The main endurance racing focus might be on the very first 6 Hours of Barcelona in the World Endurance Championship. But there’s also good reason to keep an eye on the season-ending GT World Challenge Europe this weekend too.

Not only will it be another incredibly exciting round of the GTWCE, but four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen will be making his series debut, racing for his Verstappen Racing team.

The opportunity to race in the season finale at Portimao came about purely because of the clash with the WEC. Verstappen Racing’s usual drivers, Dani Juncadell and Jules Gounon had to prioritise their WEC Hypercar drives for this weekend, meaning Verstappen’s team had to find two drivers ready and able to step in.

And given the fact there isn’t a clash with Formula 1, Verstappen gladly took one of the seats, with Ben Barnicoat taking the other.

Ahead of the weekend, Verstappen took part in a pre-event test to ensure he’s fully acclimatised for the race on Saturday afternoon, and admitted that it took a bit of time to get reacquainted with the car again, having last raced it in the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

"Of course, my references are from the Nürburgring Nordschleife, so it took a bit of time to get used to driving the car at this track,” said Verstappen.

“But the Mercedes-AMG GT3 is very well-balanced and it has proven over the last few years that it’s also very competitive.

“Today we were just fine-tuning a few details. It’s still quite hot for this time of year and you have to take that into account as well.

“Of course, you want to go faster, you want to do better. For myself, I’m getting up to speed and the more laps I do, the better it gets.”

The Portimao round will likely be an eye-opening one for Verstappen. It’s a highly competitive series, one that Alex Palou discovered recently when competing in the Indy 8 Hours in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, another SRO organised championship.

Verstappen admits that he’s fully aware of the competitive level in GT3 at the moment and that he feels somewhat out of his “comfort zone driving this type of car”, but it’s a learning process he’s enjoying, and this weekend is all part of a bigger idea.

"Naturally, you see that the margins are very small,” said Verstappen when talking about the competition level in the series.

“I’m getting a bit out of my comfort zone driving this type of car, but I love it. I love competing in all types of categories.”

Verstappen loves it so much that he’s already got his eyes on the 24 Hours of Spa next year. And that’s where this weekend plays in so well.

Racing the Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo on a more conventional racing circuit, with a full GT World Challenge Europe grid while help the F1 champion experience what the on track racing will likely be like next year.

Verstappen has made it clear that he has intentions to race at Spa next year, especially since there is no F1 clash. And this weekend will no doubt be the first piece of preparation towards making that ambition a reality.

“I love Spa of course, so I’m trying to make it work, as I want to arrive well prepared,” explained Verstappen.

“I’m going to try my best to be there. It’s close to the Dutch border and I’m also half Belgian.

“For me it would be nice to join and to race in one of the biggest endurance events of the year.”

Verstappen’s participation in any GT3 race is always going to garner attention. You only have to look at the Nurburgring 24 Hours earlier this year to see that.

And there will no doubt be plenty of scrutiny on the Dutch driver this weekend.

Many will no doubt be expecting Verstappen to simply be driving off into the sunset on race day on Saturday, and anything less would likely draw plenty of critics.

But does Verstappen care? Not one bit.

He has nothing to prove at all. He’s out there to go racing for fun. Of course, he’s a racer, one of the hardest of all, and he will not be happy unless he wins the race.

But ultimately, he’s taking on this race because he enjoys racing in GT3.

Regardless of his own motivations though, his increased presence on GT3 grids can only be a good thing for sportscar racing as a whole. It’s opening up a new audience to the world of GT cars, showcasing that although the racing might not have the primetime TV slots, it doesn’t mean it is any less interesting.

By all means spend this weekend enjoying the world championship event at Barcelona. But make sure you also keep an eye on the goings on at Portimao. The stage is set for one fantastic few days of the word of sportscar racing.