Max Verstappen, Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat will have plenty of work to do on Saturday after qualifying 15th for the GT World Challenge race at Portimao. The trio ended the twilight session well down the 61-car grid, leaving them with a tough task in the three-hour race that begins at 5pm local time.
The result came after a more encouraging run through practice. Verstappen tapped Ezequiel Perez Companc's Audi into a spin on his first lap in the morning session while trying to navigate traffic, but the crew had moved up to fourth by the end of the second practice session. That made the qualifying drop-off more surprising, even if the team had already identified room for improvement.
A difficult evening session
Ben Barnicoat said the group had felt they were missing a little bit of speed, even though they had been near the top of the timesheets at times. He added that none of the drivers were fully happy with the car, and the team tried a couple of changes before qualifying.
Those adjustments did not produce the desired result. Barnicoat said the car had a lot of sparking and bouncing in a straight line, and that the squad probably just missed the setup a little bit. His overall read was simple enough: it could be worse, but the pace was not where it needed to be when it mattered most.
What comes next
The starting spot makes recovery the main storyline for Verstappen's crew, especially on a crowded 61-car grid. The Portimao race is another part of Verstappen's break between Formula 1 events, and he will get back behind the wheel of a Mercedes GT3 car later this month for the first time since the Nurburgring 24 Hours.
For now, though, the focus is on turning a disappointing qualifying run into a more competitive race. With three hours ahead of them, Verstappen, Lulham and Barnicoat still have time to move forward, but they will need a cleaner opening phase than the one they produced in twilight qualifying.
