Prototype Cup Germany starts a new season / sports cars in the Business

Curtains for the third season of Prototype Cup Germany. The series of races organized by ADAC and Creventic will participate in the opening of the 2024 season next weekend (April 19 to 21). As always, the German Prototype Cup field is full of top class teams and pilots. The topic of sustainability is also considered. For the second year in a row, the LMP3 prototypes are using fuel developed exclusively for the ADAC racing series, which contains 50 percent renewable fuel and thus makes an important contribution to reducing CO2. Two German Model Cup races will be shown in free live streaming on ADAC Motorsport Channel youtube.com/adacmotorsports adopted.

As the defending champion, Markus Pommer (33/Untereisesheim) travels to the Belgian Ardennes. The former ADAC GT Masters driver changed teams in the winter and is now racing for traditional racing team Gebhardt Motorsport from Sinsheim. There he shares Duqueine D08 with ADAC Sports Foundation sponsor Valentino Catalano (18/Westheim). “Starting the season at a track like Spa-Francorchamps is definitely good. Fun is really fun, especially in a model that has a lot of aerodynamics. There are fast combinations of corners and bold passages, like the story of Eau Rouge,” says Pommer, looking forward start. “Of course we want to compete for victory at the weekend. The big goal of this season is definitely to defend the championship. I got along very well with my new team-mate Valentino Catalano straight away. We have the same way of working.”

One of the biggest opponents is Julien Apothéloz (23). The Swiss is the current vice-champion of the German Model Cup and would like to improve one place in the overall standings in 2024. Apothéloz is also competing for a new racing team and now drives with Italian Riccardo Leone Cirelli at BWT Mücke Motorsport. “I’m really looking forward to the new season because there are big racing events on the calendar. Driving an LMP3 car at Spa-Francorchamps or, for example, later on the Sachsenring is good for a racing driver. I know Spa from the GT3 race when I participated in the 24 hours race there twice,” emphasizes Apothéloz. “We want to fight for podium positions and race wins this weekend. With BWT Mücke Motorsport I have a very professional environment. The team is widely recognized internationally. We tried together in Portugal in February and got to know each other well. The season can start.”

Gebhardt Motorsport will present a second Duqueine in the 2024 season. Here Sven Barth (43/Weinheim) and the Belgian Maxim Dirckx share the steering wheel. Both are making their debut in the German Model Cup. Barth is best known from the ADAC GT Masters, where he won the race and won the title in the Trophy classification in 2019. The team’s Championship experience from last year also relies on Duqueine. Their car is driven by Wolfgang Payr (60/AUT) and Sebastian von Gartzen (31/Butzbach), who already participated in the Prototype Cup in Germany in 2023. BHK Motorsport from Italy will also compete with the Duqueine driven by Francesco Dracone. The home match is Spa-Francorchamps Mühlner Motorsport, who play Duqueine for Keanu Al Azhari from the United Arab Emirates.

The stadium is also decorated with four Ligier JS P320. Danny Soufi (20/USA) and Torsten Kratz (53/Mönchengladbach) drive for Konrad Motorsport, another popular traditional racing team. Robert Doyle (64/USA) and Jaime Guzmán Corcuera of Mexico compete for the Spanish team AF2 Motorsport. After guest starts in 2022 and 2023, the Frikadelli Racing cult team is now fully participating in the German Model Cup. Team boss Klaus Abbelen (63/Barweiler) shares the cockpit with Felipe Fernández Laser (35/Leipzig), winner of the 2023 ADAC 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. Also known from the various ADAC series is MRS GT-Racing, which brings a Ligier to the start for Estonian Antti Rammo.

The test day for the LMP3 cars of the Prototype Cup Germany took place on Wednesday at the Spa-Francorchamps track. The teams took advantage of the opportunity to introduce themselves in a necessary and interesting way. At the front of the field was the usual mix of different Prototype Cup Germany models. The best time of 2:18.977 minutes went to Duqueine from BWT Mücke Motorsport. Konrad Motorsport was only 15 thousandths of a second behind – followed by Frikadelli Racing Team (both Ligiers). Duqueine from Racing Experience rounded out the top four.