Makowiecki “Feels at Home” on Porsche GT3 Return

Fred Makowiecki says he “feels at home” after returning to the wheel of a Porsche GT car for the first time in two years having received a late call-up to race for Schumacher CLRT in this weekend’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Makowiecki had not competed in GT machinery since departing Porsche at the end of the 2024 campaign, when he moved to the Signatech-run Alpine squad in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Even prior to that, his GT3 outings with Porsche were sporadic as he had primarily focused on the manufacturer’s GTE program before being part of the Porsche Penske Motorsport Hypercar driver roster.

But Makowiecki has now returned to a GT3 Porsche for the first time since 2024 at Spa after taking the place of Laurin Heinrich in the Schumacher CLRT No. 22 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, with the German on duty in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Watkins Glen.

“I was worried that maybe I would forget it, but it’s fine!” Makowiecki told Sportscar365 of racing in GT3 again. “It’s still a steering wheel, pedals and everything is fine.

“I expected to be a little bit lost in the beginning but not so much has changed inside the car.

“It’s something I know well — not that generation but I did the development of a lot of cars when I was at Porsche so I’ve not lost all the method. The processes are the same so it’s quite nice.”

He explained that the opportunity to deputize for Heinrich came through “a good contact” he kept with Schumacher CLRT founder Come Ledogar after Makowiecki drove for the team at Spa in 2023 in a Bronze Cup Porsche.

“It was the start of his team and I really liked his approach with a lot of method, very passionate, very hard worker and I always said I was happy to work with him,” Makowiecki added.

“Some other drivers had been proposed to him [to replace Heinrich] but he wanted someone with experience which will help us to go in the right direction.”

He said that the team had spent practice very much focused on race preparation and is confident of fighting towards the front in the Porsche he will share with Ayhancan Guven and Matt Campbell that will start the race 16th.

The German manufacturer has also been boosted by getting the largest pre-race Balance of Performance weight break.

Makowiecki had never previously won the 24H Spa, his best finish being second in 2019 in a ROWE Racing Porsche, and is relishing the prospect of fighting for another strong result.

“It’s a fantastic field, the number of cars, the quality of the teams and the drivers is really high,” he said of the Spa event.

“As a driver, it’s good because it pushes you to the limit. When you arrive and you are used to a certain method, it’s always good to come back somewhere and need to do well and push because the level is very high.”

Makowiecki added that he was unsure whether he could make further GT3 appearances in the future.

His plans for 2027 were thrown up in the air by Alpine announcing its exit from the WEC at the end of this season with Signatech now working to find a new OEM to keep the Alpine A424s on the grid.