With Daytona in the rear view mirror, the Bathurst 12 Hour is up next, a major race for Porsche as the first leg of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
Porsche is prioritising its pursuit of the IGTC Manufacturers’ Championship with its range of customer teams in Australia, Europe, East Asia, and North America this year.
“The IGTC has an idea behind it: You have local championships. It’s local teams. And they are competing for an international championship where you have a manufacturers’ trophy. And we stick to that idea,” Porsche Motorsport Vice President Thomas Laudenbach told reporters prior to the Rolex 24 last weekend.
“We don’t want to send cars all over the planet to win this championship. We are really proud that different teams contributed to that (2024 IGTC Manufacturers’) title, and that’s how we’ll do it this year.
“We stick to the principle that we have, and if we don’t win it, then we don’t win it. If other manufacturers decide to do it differently, that’s fine. Everybody needs to make his own decisions – we are going to handle it like last year. Because to me, this is the original idea of the championship.”
With a congested month of June featuring the 24-hour races at Le Mans, Nürburgring, and Spa in consecutive weeks – plus a clash between Nürburgring and the IMSA Watkins Glen 6 Hours – there will be challenges in allocating personnel, but Porsche is confident that they can manage things as best as possible.
“I think we’ve found solutions for all that – this might be due to the fact that there is not one team competing in all the races, which makes it a bit easier. I know that other manufacturers, have more problems, especially because of drivers. It is a challenge, but for us, it’s okay,” Laudenbach adds.
“Yes, it would be better not to have three (races) in a row, or even the clash with Watkins Glen. It’s not ideal. But we can handle it, maybe also due to the fact that we have enough drivers, and the teams are different. For us, it’s more that if they have to rebuild things and they need something from us, we might come to the edge of our capacity.
“But I would say we at Weissach are well prepared to handle it.”
