Porsche’s team strategists seem to have been on overtime of late, hot on the heels of the reshuffle of drivers for the FIA WEC squad, and the drafting in of Fred Mako and Michael Christensen into the LMP1 test squad (though rather oddly perhaps NOT their designated Test and Development driver Marco Holzer!), the factory team have now announced that they will field a third car for the first time at next weekend’s Austin round of the Tudor United Sportscar Championship.
The move comes at Porsche seek to defend a narrow lead in the manufacturer’s classification ahead of Chevrolet, SRT, BMW and Ferrari.
The move will see the factory GT driver roster shuffled once again:
In the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz will be joined by Jörg Bergmeister, this still dependent on Richard’s recovery from his arm injury at VIR.
The #912 sees the regular driver pairing of Michael Christensen and Patrick Long fielded whilst the third car, numbered #910 will see an all French line-up of Frédéric Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet in the cockpit.
“The fight for the championship in the GTLM class remains exciting to the very end. This speaks volumes for the excellence of this new race series. Even in its first season, the series has enthralled fans with some great motor racing and has fulfilled all expectations,” says Porsche’s Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “By fielding a third 911 RSR with Porsche North America in Austin we want to maintain our good title chances as leaders of the manufacturer’s classification.”
The move will see Nick Tandy, Richard Lietz, Jörg Bergmeister, Frédéric Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet all doing double duty with the WEC race later on the same day!
