F1-Verstappen remains interested in future Le Mans trials

Verstappen is currently on track to win his first Formula 1 drivers’ championship. With his victory at the Mexican Grand Prix last weekend, he extended his points lead over Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton to 19 with four races to go.

While the Dutchman has always been focused on his F1 endeavors since his start on the grid in 2015 and became the youngest winner of the series the following year, he previously spoke of the desire to drive at Le Mans one day.

When asked by Motorsport.com last week whether he had spoken to his father about a possible Le Mans entry, Verstappen said there was still something on his radar for the future.

“Yeah, we’ll talk a little bit about it,” said Verstappen. “Hypercar is coming now, but it needs a few more entries to fully establish itself.

“I think it’ll be a few more years before I can really get a clear picture of what I might want to do at Le Mans. It’s something I definitely want to do in the future. Of course it would be great if I could do that together with my dad. “

# 709 Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus 007 LMH: Romain Dumas, Franck Mailleux, Richard Westbrook

Photo by: Paolo Belletti

The hypercar class debuted at Le Mans earlier this year with Toyota and Glickenhaus deploying bespoke cars and will enjoy a rapid influx of manufacturers in the coming seasons.

Peugeot will be on the grid in 2022, while Ferrari has a program planned for 2023. Audi, BMW, Porsche, Acura and Cadillac all join the LMDh sister class in the same year.

Red Bull previously had ties to a high-profile Le Mans project through its relationship with Aston Martin, but this ended after the consortium of Lawrence Stroll took over the British manufacturer and subsequently renamed the Racing Point team.

Verstappen Senior – who drove in Formula 1 between 1994 and 2003 – has not competed in Le Mans since 2009, the year after he won the LMP2 class in a Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder.

But the 49-year-old will make his rally debut at Jack’s International Drenthe Rally in Assen this month.

In January, he will start the 24-hour race in Dubai with Thierry Vermeulen – the son of Max manager Raymond Vermeulen – and two other drivers in a Porsche GT3 car.

Looking ahead to Jos’ rally debut, Verstappen Jr. supported the 1994 Hungarian Grand Prix podium finisher to “do well” because “he takes it very seriously”.

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“He sent me some videos and pictures again today because he was testing again,” said Max. “He’s fast, so I’m sure he’ll do well. Of course it’s a bit new to him to have someone next to him to navigate him, but I think it’s his style, the rally type.

“I’m obviously looking forward to the result, but he will do well.”