'The Nurburgring seems fantastic to me': Nyck de Vries inspired by Verstappen

While Max Verstappen will try to win the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring on his debut next weekend, Nyck de Vries is competing in the Formula E race in Monaco. The former Formula 1 driver wouldn’t have been able to take part in the endurance race on the Nordschleife anyway, even if he had wanted to, but believes it could one day happen in the future.

“It just hasn’t come my way yet,” Nyck de Vries says in an exclusive conversation with GPblog. “Certainly the big GT races appeal to me as well. Spa, Bathurst, Nürburgring. I’m looking at those too, and it seems fantastic to do them at some point. With the schedule I have now, it’s not possible. But I definitely don’t rule it out for the future.”

The international racing calendar is particularly busy. Formula 1 drivers have 24 Grand Prix weekends, while many Formula E drivers are also active in the World Endurance Championship. It’s almost impossible to have a free weekend in which these drivers can make a side trip to, for example, the Nürburgring.

It’s occasionally suggested that the organisers of the major series should coordinate better on when to hold an event. “Everyone has their own agenda. That’s obviously difficult,” De Vries acknowledges when asked. “But yes, then they’d have to take the Formula 1 calendar and the schedules of all those other classes into account. Of course, you can’t accommodate everything. Track availability isn’t always a given either.”

At some point, De Vries does want to do those big races - just like Max Verstappen racing in a GT3 machine. Then the Dutchman makes a perhaps surprising remark: “To be honest, I’ve never driven a GT car. I have driven a GTE, that was a Ferrari at the time. That was in 2017.”

The fact that a GT car, in terms of speed for instance, can’t be compared to a hypercar or an F1 car doesn’t bother De Vries. “For me it’s about the competition you can have. I think those big races are really cool.”