MDK Plotting GTD Endurance Cup Effort; Magnussens Possible

Image: MDK Motorsports

MDK Motorsports is plotting an expansion into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year with a brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 R for the Michelin Endurance Cup races.

The Ohio-based team, led by reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands Am class champion Mark Kvamme, has revealed that it has submitted a GTD class entry request for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

It would come in addition to its already confirmed GT3-spec Porsche for Trenton Estep and Seth Lucas in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS (pictured above).

Kvamme said the team has already taken delivery of the Type-992 Porsche at its shop.

“Our goal is to participate in the Rolex 24,” he told Sportscar365. “I just haven’t heard from IMSA yet.

“We would be doing the full Endurance Cup. Porsche is really behind us too, so I’m pretty hopeful we’ll get an allocation.”

Kvamme would likely be joined by Estep and two, yet-to-be-announced drivers for the WeatherTech Championship season-opener, widely believed to be Kevin and Jan Magnussen.

The father-and-son duo are driving with Kvamme in a MDK-entered, AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 Evo 2020 in this weekend’s Gulf 12 Hours, in the Haas Formula 1 driver’s first race appearance in a GT car.

When asked if Kevin and Jan would be part of the lineup for Daytona, Kvamme said: “I cannot confirm nor deny.”

“I want to go win it,” he added. “This would be my tenth [Rolex] 24. I’ve done nine in a row. It would be fun to do it with my own team. I’m looking forward to it.

“We’ve hired a lot of people. We’ll be announcing a partnership with a really good Porsche group pretty soon.

“Owen Hayes is our engineer. He’s excellent. We’re trying to hire the best and the brightest in the industry.”

The team, formed ahead of the 2022 season, has been on a rapid rise through the sports car racing ranks, having fielded Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in both Carrera Cup and Porsche Sprint Challenge North America this year.

Kvamme said both programs are set to continue in 2023, along with the aforementioned new entry into GTWC America and and all-female effort in the new Toyota GR Cup, which will be on SRO America weekends.

“It’s going to be a full ladies program,” he said. “We’ve already signed them. Ashley [Freiberg] is one of them and we’ll be announcing the other one pretty soon.

“My goal is to have a 100 percent women team. The manager will be Sarah Serle.

“What I want to do eventually is be the place where someone can start in a Toyota GR86, go to a Cayman, go to Sprint Challenge 992, then to Carrera Cup and then to GTD.

“I can dream even further if I’d like to!”

MDK Aiming to Become “Penske-Like” Team for Gentlemen Drivers

Kvamme, who used to own a supercross team under the same name, launched MDK with the vision of delivering “world-class performance” to gentlemen drivers, while offering the same for the drivers’ families and sponsors.

“That was the real challenge we put forward for us,” he said.

“As a gentleman driver, you’re spending a lot of time and a lot of money. If I want my wife and kids to come, it’s got to be a good experience, and a lot of time it’s not for them.

“I basically decided that, ‘Hey, I think I could do something real special.’ Luckily, Will Bamber became available and decided to go full-on into it.

“We pretty much overdelivered on what we said we were going to do [in the first year]. We have some surprises up our sleeve for next year too. I want to keep upping the ante every year and show great performance on the track.

“The idea is to do a ‘Penske-level’ program primarily with gentlemen drivers but at the same time work with more established folks and take it from there and see if we can make it happen.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John