Bamber, Mueller in D’station Porsche for Suzuka 10H

Porsche factory drivers Earl Bamber and Sven Mueller will race in next month’s Suzuka 10 Hours in an entry run by Japanese outfit D’station Racing.

The pair will co-drive one of the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 Rs with Mueller’s Super GT team-mate Tomonobu Fuji.

Bamber’s signing means the two-time Le Mans winner will contest the opening three rounds of the Intercontinental GT Challenge with three different teams.

The New Zealander finished fifth in February’s Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in a Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche and is slated to drive a KUS 75 Team Bernhard 911 at the Total 24 Hours of Spa this month.

Mueller, meanwhile, is set to make his IGTC debut at Suzuka.

“Really excited to be joining D’Station for the 10 hours of Suzuka with Sven and Tomonobu Fuji,” said Bamber.

“It will also be cool to have Jono Lester next door in our sister car. Can’t wait to drive for the first time in Suzuka – it’s a real bucket list circuit.”

D’station Racing will also field a second Porsche in the Pro-Am category for Satoshi Hoshino, Tsubasa Kondo and New Zealand’s Lester.

Hoshino is the bronze-rated driver in the crew, while silver-rated Kondo is the reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion and 28-year-old Lester is a former Super GT regular.

The Pro-Am Porsche represents D’station Racing’s Super Taikyu entry, which Hoshino and Kondo usually share with 2004 Le Mans winner Seiji Ara.