Holzmeyer: “Major Changes” to Carrera Cup Calendar Paying Off

Photo: Bob Chapman/Autosport Image

A significant change to Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America’s schedule for this year has paid dividends according to Porsche Motorsport North America President and CEO Volker Holzmeyer, who indicated the single-make series will continue to pursue high-profile events, particularly with Formula 1 races in North America.

The IMSA-sanctioned series, in its third season, supported the F1 Miami Grand Prix in May for the first time and will close out its season at Circuit of The Americas next month, also in the backdrop of the world championship.

Combined with races on NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship events, as well as this weekend’s Porsche Rennsport Reunion 7 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Carrera Cup North America offers one of the most diverse scheduled in all of motorsports.

“It was major changes, especially going to Formula 1 events,” Holzmeyer told Sportscar365. “It had implications, cost-wise but also organizational-wise.

“In a Formula 1 environment, you’re very limited in what you can do. But overall, the feedback is very, very well received in what we’ve elevated the series to.

“Also the [entry] applications for next year look really strong so I think we’re on the right pathway of making Carrera Cup a premier one-make series in the U.S. It’s working really well.

“We’re also looking into what we’re going to do next year. We still have some contracts to figure out; that’s why we didn’t have [the calendar] announced [at Road America].

“But for sure we will continue with the Formula 1 path because it’s working out really well.

“The drivers and partners love it.

“Of course if you ask every team owner they say it’s a little bit tricky because they don’t have access to their trailers and stuff like that, but that’s on the operations side.

“But in the end, the drivers have to make a decision to put the money down. That’s always a compromise with us or Supercup. You have to compromise but [the] drivers love it.”

Holzmeyer said they’re focused on the “little details” of continuing to refine the series, which has seen 20-plus car Pro class grids this year, but with a continued focus on Pro-Am and Am class entrants.

“Sometimes there’s a misunderstanding that we want to make Carrera Cup a pro series only but that’s really not the case,” he said.

“The Pro class is important, and in an ideal world make the biggest group, but Pro-Am and Am has the same importance. We want to grow it.

“If we have more applications again than grid slots — so 40 [cars] is the maximum we can do — quality-wise, we also don’t want to go bigger, then our target is to have a big Pro-Am and Am class too.

“It’s vital to have all three elements in the grid.”

Holzmeyer on Significance of Carrera Cup at Rennsport

Since joining PMNA in 2021, the year of the single-make series’ launch, Holzmeyer said it had been a goal of his to ensure Carrera Cup played a key role at Rennsport Reunion 7.

“When I came here, for me, it was clear that I had to fight for getting Carrera Cup here [at Rennsport],” he said.

“I really appreciate the cooperation with PCNA, because it doesn’t need to happen. There’s a lot of stakeholders who want to come into Rennsport Reunion, as it’s the biggest Porsche festival.

“It wasn’t obvious that we would do it but everybody agreed that it would be a great addition to this event, to have a modern professional race series attending Rennsport Reunion.

“Of course for Carrera Cup, there are customers who didn’t know Rennsport were [questioning it], but now I talk to everybody and everybody is blown away how great this event is.”

He added:  “People switching brands, for example, they don’t know about the Porsche heritage and so many Porsche-branded people are running around the paddock, and all 80,000 people being 100 percent Porsche fans, this shows how much people appreciate the brand.

“For example, JDC-Miller is here displaying the LMDh. They were like, ‘You told me it would be great but, holy [cow] this is really good.’

“You see the legacy of all the race cars and the customers and their brand activation.”

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