Heinrich, Guven Promoted to Porsche Factory Drivers

Photo: Porsche

Laurin Heinrich and Ayhancan Guven have been promoted to Porsche factory drivers following their success in Porsche 911 GT3 R machinery around the world.

Announced during Saturday’s Porsche ‘Night of Champions’ awards night, Heinrich, who won the 2024 IMSA GTD Pro title with AO Racing, steps up to become one of six Porsche Penske Motorsport drivers in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class next year.

The 24-year-old German will be the third driver in the No. 7 Porsche 963 for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans alongside full season pilots Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer.

Fellow former Porsche Junior Guven, meanwhile, became the first Turkish driver to win the highly competitive DTM championship, at the wheel of a Manthey EMA Porsche.

The 27-year-old’s program has yet to be announced for next year.

It was also confirmed that Michael Christensen, who did not take part in the final two FIA World Endurance Championship races with Porsche Penske, has been retained as a factory driver, but for yet-to-be-announced GT3 duties.

A total of 13 drivers, including fellow ex factory Porsche 963 pilot Nick Tandy, will be works drivers next year.

Of note, Romain Dumas, who appeared on the 2025 list, is no longer active as a works driver, along with Mathieu Jaminet and Antonio Felix da Costa, who have departed for Genesis Magma Racing and Alpine, respectively.

The German manufacturer also announced the promotions of three drivers to ‘Porsche Driver’ status, one rung below a full-factory classification.

Alessandro Ghiretti and fellow Frenchman Dorian Boccolacci, the latter who has been Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific’s Selected Driver, will both move up to become Porsche-contracted drivers, alongside reigning GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup Gold class champion Harry King.

King has already been confirmed as part of AO’s new-look lineup in the WeatherTech Championship next year, alongside Tandy.

Four drivers, meanwhile, have been dropped as contracted drivers, most notably longtime Porsche pilot Patrick Pilet, along with Jaxon Evans, Lars Kern and Patric Niederhauser.

There are now a total of 17 Porsche-contracted drivers on the books.

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