Porsche Announces TUSC Factory Driver Lineup

Photos: Porsche

Porsche announced Monday its lineup of works drivers for next year’s factory assault on the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

The two-car Porsche 911 RSR effort, to be run under the Porsche North America banner, will see Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz share the wheel of the No. 911 entry, with Patrick Long and new addition Michael Christensen at the helm of the No. 912 car for the entire 11-round championship in the GT Le Mans class.

They’ll be joined by Patrick Pilet (No. 911) and Joerg Bergmeister (No. 912) for the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 25-26.

The German manufacturer’s lineup features a mix of youth and experience, with both Lietz and Long having enjoyed considerable success in 911-based machinery for the better part of the last decade.

Tandy, a former Porsche Carrera Cup Germany champion, became a factory driver this year, having scored the GT class pole in the Rolex 24 and helping take the Team Falken Tire Porsche to class victory at Petit Le Mans.

Christensen, meanwhile, was named a works driver just last month following a two-year stint as a Porsche junior. The 23-year-old Dane made his American Le Mans Series debut at Petit Le Mans in CORE’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Long and Colin Braun.

Braun, who showed impressive pace at the wheel of the 997-based GTE car in the final three ALMS races, was initially touted as a possible new addition to the works squad. However, that did not materialize.

With confirmation of its TUDOR Championship GTLM lineup, as well as the six drivers that will be part of the new 919 Hybrid LMP1 program, the final piece of Porsche’s driver puzzle is with its factory GTE-Pro effort in the FIA WEC.

Based on process of elimination, it appears Bergmeister, Pilet, Marco Holzer and newly signed factory driver Fred Makowiecki are tipped for that program.

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