Standalone Entry “Gradual Progression” for Lionspeed GP

Lionspeed GP owner-driver Patrick Kolb described the team’s move to embark on an independent program in GT3 racing as the next step in a “gradual progression” after it competed with the support of a variety of teams over the last few years.

Kolb, who co-founded the team with American gentleman driver and businessman Jose Garcia, is sharing driving duties aboard the No. 24 Porsche 911 GT3 R with Antares Au, Indy Dontje and Patric Niederhauser.

Although the Lionspeed name has appeared in a variety of major endurance events and championships over the last number of years, this season marks the first time that the German squad is operating without external support.

Previous operational partners include the likes of Huber Motorsport, Herberth Motorsport and Car Collection Motorsport, the latter of which ran a number of factory-backed entries under the Lionspeed banner at the N24 in recent years.

In 2022, Niederhauser formed part of the Audi Sport Team Lionspeed by Car Collection entry alongside Kolb, Mattia Drudi and Christopher Mies.

Last year, Porsche Hypercar drivers Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet headlined the team’s lineup after it switched to the Stuttgart marque.

“I think it’s been a gradual progression over time as we started off basically between a driver and sponsor combination,” Kolb told Sportscar365.

“This then evolved over time into various season entries supported by different teams. On technical side, we did the entire branding and marketing side of that.

“And since this year, we’re a fully independent team. We’re running a GT3 R here at the Nürburgring. We’re running GT World Challenge Endurance, as well as Creventic Europe season with our own crew, our own guys, our own cars.

“It’s an exciting adventure. We’ve been at the Nürburgring for the past five years. Started off with a Cup car, then two times a Pro-Am entry, then two Pro entries in the past two years.

“This year, we’re together with Antares fighting for the Independent Cup of IGTC.”

As Kolb noted, the team has opted to commit to multiple series simultaneously for its first standalone season, running a Bronze Cup entry in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup as well as a GT4 program in the 24H Series.

He admitted that the decision to go for multiple championships ‘is definitely a lot of work,’ but that Lionspeed is building off foundations that were laid in the final year before it went fully independent.

“The team isn’t new, we’ve worked together in a similar constellation over the last year,” he said.

“I would say we’ve got very good people and very good people attract interesting programs. It is definitely a lot of work but it’s extremely exciting.

“I think all of our guys have got GT World Challenge experience, we have various Spa 24-hour race winners in our team, we have Nürburgring winners so it just made sense and that’s sometimes the way the path goes.”

Kolb pointed out that there is a crew of 15 people on-site this weekend to run the No. 24 Porsche, which is the only Pro-Am entry from the Stuttgart marque in the SP9 class and also the only car registered to score IGTC Independent Cup points.

After two factory-backed Pro entries in recent years, Kolb stated it was a “concious decision” to move into Pro-Am for its first standalone N24, as it allows the team to gradually grow into the demands of GT3 racing.

“I think we’ve taken all of the learnings from the various Pro entries over the last few years,” said Kolb.

“It was a very conscious decision to take a step in year one [and] build up everything gradually. I don’t think it’s less demanding in any way or form.

“It definitely made sense, especially with the Independent Cup, including Nürburgring 24, which makes it very special.

“It’s working out very, very smoothly. Essentially, there’s no dependency on anyone else, we run the things exactly the way we want them to be run and that’s very beneficial.

“We’ve had a lot of learnings over the past five years where we’ve run with various technical support sites and now we can take all of those learnings, bundle them into one and do it our way.”