“Mark” and “Pastor” enjoying build up to Verstappen wildcard in Eseries

Former F1 winners to current stars have enjoyed the lighter side of competition between Formula 1 star Max Verstappen and Red Bull Holden Racing Team ace Shane van Gisbergen, who exchanged social media banter ahead of Verstappen’s debut in the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries tomorrow night.

WATCH: SHANE REACTS TO NEWS MAX IS JOINING ESERIES

Red Bull announced last night that Verstappen will join the iRacing grid as a wildcard on Wednesday for virtual races at Silverstone (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).

As part of his own announcement to fans on Twitter, Verstappen said: “I’ll be participating in the V8 Supercars on Wednesday,”

“I’ll drive a Holden with the Red Bull team and my mate Pastor.”

Verstappen then goes on to explain why he refers to van Gisbergen as “Pastor”.

WATCH: MAX VERSTAPPEN IS PUMPED FOR THE ESERIES

“I think we all know who that is… he is King Shunter,” the 21-year old Dutchman laughed.

It’s most likely a reference to former F1 one-time race winner Pastor Maldanado who between 2011 and 2015 recorded 26 penalties (F1 record) and 32 DNFs from 95 career starts.

Verstappen then sings praise for the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries.

“Looking forward to driving together [with van Gisbergen] and seeing what we can do against the other guys. A lot of good drivers in V8s and I’m definitely looking forward to racing against them.

“Hopefully we can be quick and put on a good show.”

Van Gisbergen replied hours later on his Instagram page by calling Verstappen“Mark”, a possible reference to former Red Bull F1 driver, Aussie Mark Webber.

“You might have seen the news last night, our friend Mark Verstappen’s joining us tomorrow for the Eseries,” the 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Champion said.

“Looking forward to having him there, we’ve raced a bit in the past and it’s been pretty awesome.

“Mark [Max] is pretty quick. Our first race is at Silverstone.

Van Gisbergen then goes on to make a tongue-in-cheek joke about his Red Bull Holden Racing Teammate Jamie Whincup, who made his online racing debut last week and currently sits 19th on the Coates Hire Leaderboard after the opening round of eracing.

“I don’t know if Jamie is joining us this week, so Mark [Max] will slot in pretty good at Silverstone which is fitting as a number two driver.”

Red Bull Holden quickly confirmed Whincup will be on the grid tomorrow night.

“He [Verstappen] calls me Pastor, that’s his little nickname … probably because I crash a lot, pretty fitting,” Van Gisbergen continued.

“But what he forgets is the second race is at Barcelona, which is where Pastor won.”Pastor Maldonado won the 2012 F1 Spanish Grand Prix, his only career Grand Prix victory.

Mark Webber enjoyed the social media banter between the pair saying “Yep Mark likes Silverstone a lot” on van Gisbergen’s post.

Webber had two career wins and five podium finishes in F1 races at Silverstone.

Fellow F1 driver Lando Norris, well known to iRacing laughed at van Gisbergen’s reference to Verstappen as the number two driver.

Supercars Champion Scott McLaughlin, who won two out of three races in the opening round of the BP All Stars Eseries also saw the lighter side to van Gisbergen’s comment.

All jokes will be pushed aside tomorrow night when the second round of the BP All Stars Eseries gets underway.

Qualifying will begin at 6:00pm AEST and will be broadcast exclusively on Fox Sports 506 before racing begins at 7:00pm.

From 7:00pm as was the case for Round One, the races will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506, Kayo, Sky Sports (NZ) and 10 Play.

Fans from around the world will be able to watch online via the Supercars Facebook Page and Supercars Team Facebook Pages. International fans will also be given the chance to tune in live on Red Bull TV.