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Park Place Expands to GT3 Cup Challenge with Kolkmann

Park Place Motorsports expands to IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA with David Kolkmann…

Photo: Porsche

Park Place Motorsports continues its growths spurt as it enters Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama with driver David Kolkmann.

Kolkmann joins the team for a full season of GT3 Cup Challenge in the No. 71 Porsche GT3 Cup 911, marking his first time racing in North America.

His arrival was orchestrated in part with a continuation of the team’s relationship with Project 1, which ran Kolkmann in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and will run team principal Patrick Lindsey in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“We’re excited to have David with Park Place not only because he’s talented but because it’s a great opportunity for our team,” Lindsey said. “He’s helping our team diversify and grow within Porsche.

“We’re with a manufacturer that offers us a lot of options in what we can run in and I’m excited to expand into Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA. It’s a great championship that offers the perfect training ground for future professionals. Hopefully, we can put together a car for David to win a championship.”

The German driver competed in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. His highest achievement came last year at Austria’s Red Bull Ring where he picked up a third-place finish.

Kolkmann finished eighth in the championship, 28 cars scored points of 43 entries. Before sports car racing, he raced in German Automobile Club ADAC Formula Masters and Formula 4.

The move to America is in step with Kolkmann’s evolution of his race craft giving him the opportunity to learn new tracks and new tires with the same car he loves.

“I always wanted to race in America. There are some great tracks and I think it’s a good way to develop myself as a driver,” Kolkmann said.

“I always loved Porsche cars, and I think racing in the Porsche one-make championships is the best way to show good results to become factory driver one day. For me, it’s also the best way to be quick in any car. If you are quick in a Porsche Cup Car, you should be quick in every car.”

Kolkmann has been preparing for the challenges of firsts that lay ahead of him by spending time on the simulator exploring each track.

Ahead of his first race at Sebring International Raceway Kolkmann has watched plenty of videos to prepare him for the bumps of America’s oldest road course.

“I try to prepare myself as good as possible,” Kolkmann said. “I watched a lot of videos, I did some sessions on the simulator and I’ll talk to some drivers that have raced there about the track. I talked to some American drivers about the tires. I’m trying to get as much information as possible in preparation. Not knowing the tracks makes me even more excited because the tracks are really nice.

“I’m more than excited. It’ll be a completely new situation for me, but that gives me even more motivation to push myself to the maximum. I have to say thank you to Hans-Bernd Kamps and Axel Funke at Project 1 and of course to Team Park Place Motorsports and Patrick Lindsey, for making it all work.”

Round 1 takes place over the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented weekend on March 14-17.

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