Formula 1 superstar Max Verstappen was only able to put the No.3 Team Verstappen Mercedes 15th on the grid for the GT World Challenge Europe Portimao round.
The four-time world champion is making his debut in the category this weekend due to the FIA World Endurance Championship clash in Barcelona removing Joules Gounon Dani Juncadella from the No.3’s line-up.
The No.3 crew was 20th at the end of FP1, but leapt up to fourth in FP2 ahead of qualifying.
However, the 65-minute session proved to be difficult for the Team Verstappen entry, which failed to lift itself higher than 15th in any of the three segments.
Max Verstappen, GTWCE Portimao 2026
© GT World Challenge Europe
Max Verstappen drove the car for the final stint in Q3, but could do no better than a 1m42.624s average to miss out on pole by 0.553s.
The qualifying result in GTWCE is based on the average of the three lap times across Q1, Q2 and Q3.
Ben Barnicoat took the first segment and was 21st, 0.679s, before Chris Lulham took over for Q2.
Lulham was able to improve to 15th, but was further away from pole at 0.794s off the pace with a 1m42.944s.
Verstappen set the best lap of the session for the car in Q3 of 1m42.093s, but that wasn’t enough to lift him out of 15th based on the average laps from Q1 and Q2.
Max Verstappen, GTWCE Portimao 2026
© GT World Challenge Europe
Porsche claimed pole with the No.2 Boutsen VDS entry, which led the way with a 1m42.071s after Dorian Boccolacci at the wheel.
The No.17 GetSpeed Mercedes was second, 0.108s down on pole, while the No.80 Lionspeed Porsche was third.
The No.64 HRT Ford was fourth, 0.181s off pole, while Lilou Wadoux took the No.50 AF Corse Ferrari to fifth.
Maro Engel put the No.48 MANN-FILTER Mercedes into sixth ahead of the No.59 Garage 59 McLaren.
The No.71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari, the No.7 Comtoyou Aston Martin and the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari rounded out the top 10.
Valentino Rossi’s qualifying proved disastrous, as he had a lap time that was good enough for the top 10 in Q2 cancelled for exceeding track limits.
Neil Verhagen took over the No.46 WRT BMW for Q3 and posted a 1m42.563s, but the car will go from second-to-last in Saturday’s race.
Lewis joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having been a journalist for five years covering MotoGP for the Motorsport Network. In February of 2026, he became Head of Editorial.