Max Verstappen vs. Valentino Rossi: There Was No Duel—How It Ended in Portimão

There was great anticipation in Portugal to see two motorsport legends in action. Unfortunately, the duel never really materialized, and only the F1 star had a reason to smile a little at the end of the endurance race.

Valentino Rossi versus Max Verstappen: that was the main talking point ahead of the final round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe calendar. Huge numbers of fans were looking forward to the 3 Hours of Portimão, eager to see how the former MotoGP rider would fare against the current F1 driver. Between them, they have 13 world titles. Sadly, their duel never came to fruition on track.

The qualifying sessions had already made it clear that we were unlikely to see much of a battle between the event's two most anticipated names at the GTWCE round in Portugal. Max Verstappen and teammates Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham (Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing) qualified thirteenth on the grid at the Algarve International Circuit. Valentino Rossi, Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen (Team WRT), meanwhile, started from fifty-ninth in the number 46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO after a minor mistake (exceeding track limits) by the Italian in Q2. The deletion of his lap time forced the crew to start from well back and left them with a mountain to climb.

They were making decent progress in the 3 Hours of Portimão. Rossi had moved up to P36 during his opening stint, despite having to make an early pit stop because of a technical problem with the BMW. Verhagen began his second stint from P40 and did well to gain several more places before handing the car over to Hesse for the third stint. Unfortunately, on lap 75, while running fifteenth, the German driver spun, forcing the car to retire and bringing out the second Safety Car. The final classification nevertheless shows the car in P50, a deeply disappointing result compared with Valentino's and the team's expectations.

Verstappen fared better, taking over the number 3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO for the third stint. When he joined the race, he was in twenty-fourth place, partly because Lulham had received a drive-through penalty for contact with Luca Stolz's number 48 Mercedes. The four-time F1 world champion mounted a superb charge through the field, climbing all the way to P9. Although he had arrived in Portugal aiming for victory, he still showcased his talent and speed on his GT World Challenge Europe debut.

Victory in the 3 Hours of Portimão went to Ralf Aron, Maximilian Götz and Fabian Schiller of Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed. Porsche claimed the other two podium spots, with Lionspeed GP (Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining, Bastian Buus) getting the better of Boutsen VDS (Morris Schuring, Dorian Boccolacci, Alessio Picariello) to finish second.

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