• Lionspeed GP to tackle three-hour GT3 race at Nürburgring
• Patrick Kolb and Bastian Buus return to cockpit of Porsche 911 GT3 R
• Team welcomes Michael Verhagen for GTWC Europe debut

Lionspeed GP is excited to tackle its home race as it lines up for the third round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring. New to the team is Bronze-rated driver Michael Verhagen, who makes his GT3 debut.

Just a few weeks after taking the Intercontinental GT Challenge Independent Cup victory in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, Lionspeed GP’s Porsche 911 GT3 R returns to action at the Nürburgring for a three-hour race at the renowned German venue. With Lionspeed home base located just two hours away, the team looks forward to a home race.

Similarly to the previous two Endurance Cup rounds, the No. 80 Porsche will compete in the Bronze Cup category. For the role of the mandatory Bronze-rated driver, the team welcomes Michael Verhagen (NED) to its ranks for the first time. He will team up with the returning Bastian Buus (DEN) and team principal Patrick Kolb (GER).

Although the 36-year-old will make his GT3 debut at the Nürburgring, he already gathered experience in a wide range of different cars and championships over the last few years. He competed in FIA WTCR in 2018 and won the Supercar Challenge GT title in his native Netherlands the same year. Most recently, he has raced in multiple Porsche single-make championships, including the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.

Buus and Kolb, meanwhile, rejoin the team’s Bronze Cup crew for the first time since the three-hour season opener in Paul Ricard. There, Lionspeed secured a top ten finish in class upon debut in the world’s most competitive GT3 championship in the world. Kolb also raced at the Nürburgring 24 at the start of June, where he formed part of the lineup that secured the SP9 Pro-Am victory – a landmark result in the team’s first season as an independent GT3 operation.

Although this weekend’s race takes place on the Grand Prix circuit and not on the full Nordschleife, it promises to be no less competitive with as many as 50 GT3 cars entered. 15 of these, including the Lionspeed Porsche, compete in the Bronze Cup for crews consisting of a Bronze/Silver/Gold or Platinum driver lineup.

Official track running at the Nürburgring starts with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday, after which Sunday starts early with a three-stage qualifying session. In this format, all three drivers will each tackle a 15-minute session and the combined average time will then determine the grid order for the three-hour race. That race then kicks off that afternoon at 15:00 CEST. Live coverage will be available on the GT World YouTube channel.