Leclerc opens up on GT battles with Max Verstappen after Portimao fight

Arthur Leclerc has opened up on the 'special' experience of racing wheel to wheel with four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen at Portimao on Saturday.

Verstappen used F1's off-week between triple headers to fill in for his Verstappen Racing GT team at the GT World Challenge season finale in Portugal alongside Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham in the No. 3 car.

The race didn't go exactly as planned, starting outside the top ten and then being pushed out of contention by a penalty before the Dutchman even stepped into the car for the final 45-minute stint, but a late safety car did bunch the pack up and allow Verstappen to reel off a series of overtakes in the darkness.

One of those overtakes was on the Arthur Leclerc, brother of Ferrari F1 star Charles Leclerc, who drives in GT racing with the AF Corse Ferrari team. Leclerc finished just one place behind his brother's F1 rival in the end, in tenth place.

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“It’s fantastic to see a legend like him here, someone who races in Formula 1 and is a four-time F1 world champion,” the younger Leclerc brother said after the race. “Of course, it’s great to share the track with him.

“My path in motorsport was quite unusual because I used to follow my brother to the circuits. I watched my brother racing against him, and now I’m sharing the track with him. That’s really special.”

Much like F1 will next season, GTWC returned to Portimao after a break this year, with Leclerc saying of the circuit: “It’s cool and a little different. There are a lot of elevation changes, and it’s different from the other circuits. It’s also a little tricky. It’s quite challenging, but that also makes it really enjoyable to drive.”

Much like Verstappen, the Monegasque's chances to stand on the podium were more or less shelved by the time he stepped into the car as the night drew in, with Lilou Wadoux putting the team on the back foot with an early spin.

He didn't seem too cut up about it after the race though, adding: “In my view, this is the highest level of GT3 racing in the world. We have more than sixty cars, and we’re all within one or two tenths of each other. So if you lose a tenth, you might also lose 25 places on the grid. The level is really high.”

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