Porsche to Rely on Local Customers for IGTC Title Bid

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Porsche will rely on its local crop of customer teams for next month’s Intercontinental GT Challenge title-deciding Indianapolis 8 Hour powered by AWS, despite the German manufacturer currently leading the globe-trotting GT3 series.

While having initially evaluated sending factory-supported entries to the Oct. 5 enduro at The Brickyard, Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach revealed the brand will forgo any all-pro efforts.

Porsche currently holds a 16-point lead over BMW in the manufacturers’ championship, while works drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Ayhancan Guven are tied for the championship lead in the drivers’ title race.

“We were thinking about it but no,” said Laudenbach when asked by Sportscar365 on the manufacturer’s approach.

“Don’t forget the idea of Intercontinental GT Challenge. The basic idea is you have certain series all over the world, all governed by SRO, and then you make an international championship out of it with the highlight races.

“Stephane [Ratel, SRO founder and CEO] is the first person who doesn’t want us to do it as a factory, as a manufacturer.

“My definition of a manufacturer engagement is if I have to send a team with drivers and everything and I pay for everything — and that would have been the case in Kyalami — and that was a decision why we didn’t do it last year.”

Laudenbach, however, challenges that the creation of the IGTC Pro class for the Indy 8H, which will be added in alongside the Silver-driver enforced Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro category, is against the spirit of IGTC competition.

SRO ran the race to full local rules in 2022, which forced IGTC teams to draft in a Silver driver to each of its lineups.

“What I had in mind is that in this local championship, there are no Pro cars,” said Laudenbach. “So what I’m not happy with is that now we have Pro cars.

“If we would have done this one in Indianapolis, under the rules of the local series, [you need a Silver driver in each car]. That’s the rules of the local series.

“I’m not taking money and sending full Pro cars there that have nothing to do with the local championship. I know that other manufacturers do that but to me it’s a principle.”

Sportscar365 understands that Phantom Global Racing, which had initially planned to contest the Indy race with an all-pro lineup, has elected not to take part in the race altogether.

While BMW is expected to be present with Team WRT, and several all-pro Mercedes-AMG efforts, including GruppeM Racing, Porsche is set to not have a car in the IGTC Pro class.

“It will hurt because we will lose the IGTC,” Laudenbach admitted. “Maybe with some luck we will win it but it’s not really likely because I know at least two other manufacturers will send Pro cars there.

“To me this is against the idea behind it.

“I really support the idea. I like the idea. I’m a big fan of the IGTC. But I’m not happy with the fact that if I now want to win it, as [we’re] leading the championship…

“I could bring any of our teams. We had a look at it how much it would cost. We discussed it in house quite heavily but then I said, ‘No, this is the wrong sign.'”

Fanatec GT America entrants Wright Motorsports and RS1, which both run in the series’ Pro class each with Silver-rated drivers, is expected to fly the flag for the German manufacturer at Indy alongside several series’ Pro-Am entries.

Laudenbach, however, hasn’t ruled out loaning factory drivers to their lineups, with points leader Vanthoor understood to be placed with one of the teams.

“We have the American teams, like Wright Motorsports,” he said. “There will be Porsches there but it will be American teams. We will not send Pro cars there.

“We will support these teams as we do with one [extra] driver but it will not be pure Pro cars.

“Therefore the chance to win, and for sure 4-5 Pro cars will be there, is not really high. Never say never though.”

Porsche in Favor of Sticking to “Original Idea” of IGTC

Laudenbach stressed that IGTC should stick to the series’ original concept of utilizing local teams and rules for each of the rounds, instead of having full-season manufacturer-supported entries that brands such as BMW and Mercedes-AMG have utilized in recent years.

“I would be extremely happy if we really try to realize the original idea: local championships and this is the reason why from the championships, the most important one should be the manufacturers’, not the drivers’ or teams’,” he said.

“If I want the drivers’ championship, I always need to send them, but the local teams already have their drivers, so they would have to replace them, which is not a good idea.

“To me it would be really good if we had an international championship for the manufacturers through the local teams in the championships. I love those idea.

“If you don’t do that, we start to send Pro cars all around the world for half a million [Euros/Dollars] per race just to get this done.

“I think this is against the original idea of this championship.”

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