Christopher Hasse has hailed his fight with Formula 1 superstar Max Verstappen at the Nurburgring last weekend as a “battle we live for in this sport”.
As part of his preparations for a maiden outing in May’s Nurburgring 24 Hours, four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen made his second NLS outing in a GT3 car last weekend.
Swapping the Emil Frey Ferrari he won with in his maiden NLS race last year for a Red Bull-branded Mercedes, Verstappen partnered with Joules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella to claim pole and victory in the four-hour contest.
However, the car was later thrown out of the results owing to a tyre error, in which the crew of the No.3 Winward Racing Team Verstappen entry had used one too many sets permitted by the regulations.
Verstappen took the first and final stint in the car, taking the chequered flag by almost a minute from the rest of the field.
In his first stint, he enjoyed a tense battle with the Porsche driven by seasoned GT racer Christopher Hasse, who received a huge reception on social media afterwards.
In a statement, he said: “Honestly, where do I even start? Where do I stop?
“I’m not exactly the most talented when it comes to putting things like this into words!
“I want to thank all of you, for the many messages, calls, comments, and of course the fans at the track, as well as all the support on and off-track.
“I’ve received such an overwhelming amount of positive feedback that I simply can’t reply to everyone individually.
“That’s why I want to use this message to reach as many of you as possible – that really matters to me.
“I truly didn’t expect this level of consistently positive support.
“I’m a racer through and through, and I really enjoyed the stint with Max. Those are exactly the kind of battles we live for in this sport.
“And with your support, it means even more. Thank you all – fans, supporters, partners, friends, competitors and everyone who shares this passion for our sport.
“It means more to me than I can put into words.’
With the Iran conflict forcing the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix next month, Verstappen says he is considering an entry to NLS3 on 11 April.
