It is finally time to put the plans in action, and Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen will see his idea leave the paper and hit the track in 2025, as Verstappen.com Racing evolves from just a support package for selected drivers to become a fully fledged race team, campaigning the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup as its own banner while keeping the joint venture with Emil Frey Racing in the Sprint Cup.
Max Verstappen himself tested different GT3 models for around two years straight to make the right choice, as his plans to form his own race team weren’t exactly an immediate thing. The final choice for the team’s Endurance Cup campaign was quite surprising, as the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo wasn’t seen that much in the Red Bull and Team Redline colors when Max and Thierry Vermeulen were on track for coaching sessions. The evolution of the British machine might be new, but it was sort of an instant hit as it won the 24 Hours of Spa with Comtoyou Racing last year.
The entry will be run by 2Seas Motorsport, which has experience with different GT3 models over the years and comes from a 2024 season that had two wins in British GT and curiously, a Gold Cup win in the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup
The No. 33 car will compete in the Gold Cup as this entry will feel like a GT Academy reboot, given that it will have the same model of the Nissan program, with two drivers with good mileage on real asphalt while the third driver was brought from the sim racing scene. Thierry Vermeulen will act as the head of the lineup, having been part of the Verstappen.com backed Emil Frey Ferrari 296 GT3 for two years in both GTWC Europe and DTM, while British driver Harry King steps into full time GT3 racing after half of his career being dedicated to Porsche Cup racing in different regional championships, with a British title in his name and a runner-up finish in the Porsche Supercup last season.
While Chris Lulham’s career shares many similarities with fellow countryman Jann Mardenborough, who became the face of the GT Academy program alongside Lucas Ordoñez, Lulham appears to be the only one from the Team Redline roster that will make the transition to real racing at the moment, although he does have his real life mileage in place. After karting, he had a one-off entry in British F4 before shifting focus and eventually dive deep into sim racing before returning last year to race in the Radical Cup UK. With Team Redline, Lulham won the ESL R1 on Rennsport and the iRacing Bathurst 12 Hours, in what was mostly a sportscar focused career in the virtual world. Fellow Esports competitor James Baldwin had multiple appearances for Garage 59, and a face-off between Lulham and Baldwin might happen this year, but in the real race tracks.
Another change into Vermeulen’s role inside Verstappen.com Racing appears in the supported Emil Frey Racing entry for the Sprint Cup, as Lulham will join him for the short races too, with this entry moving from the Pro Cup to the Gold Cup.
Verstappen.com Racing’s adventure starts with the Paul Ricard 1000 on 13 April, while Lulham will make his Sprint Cup debut at home when the season starts at Brands Hatch on 3 and 4 May.
IMAGE: Verstappen.com Racing
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