Championship leader Larry ten Voorde aims to repeat last year’s win

For round four of the season, the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland heads to the Nürburgring next weekend (4-6 August 2023). The 32-strong field of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars will tackle two 30-minute races on the short version of the Grand Prix circuit on Saturday and Sunday. One of the hot favourites is championship leader Larry ten Voorde: Last year, the two-time Carrera Cup champion from the Netherlands celebrated a victory in Germany’s Eifel region.

“On the short 3.6-kilometre version of the Grand Prix circuit, the lap times will be even closer than usual. That’ll be stressful, especially in qualifying. But even if things don’t go as smoothly as I’d like in qualifying, there are plenty of chances to overtake, so we can make up places in the race,” says Larry ten Voorde, the current leader of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland standings. After clinching three victories so far this season, the Dutchman from the GP Elite team refuses to put himself under pressure. “Of course, I’d like to repeat my success from 2022 and win at least one race but I have a 28-point lead over the runner-up in the standings – so it’s really my pursuers who are under pressure.”

His hottest pursuer, Harry King, trails 28 points behind. The UK racer has won one round this season at the wheel of his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. “This is the first time I will contest a race at the Nürburgring. I only know the circuit from the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland’s official test day. It was raining then, which influenced my preparation,” explains the Allied-Racing driver. “My main goal is to close the gap to Larry.”

While Loek Hartog has won two races so far this season, the tall GP Elite driver has been off his game recently. “I’m not sure why things went so badly at my home race at Zandvoort of all places,” says the Dutchman, who had to settle for a fifth and eleventh in front of his home crowd and as a result, forfeited his lead in the standings. “I hope I can find my way back to old form at the Nürburgring. The track suits me and I want to fight for a podium finish again.”

Scoring two second-place results at Zandvoort, Porsche Junior Bastian Buus has edged closer to the leading group. “After a few setbacks at the start of the season, things are going really well now. I like the Nürburgring, the races there are always exciting. I might even manage to bring home my first win of the season,” states the 20-year-old Dane.

“The Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland drivers know the Nürburgring very well – it’s a regular fixture in our calendar, and we also ran the official pre-season test here, so things should be very competitive at the top. So far this season we’ve had three different winners. Let’s see if we can add a fourth and maybe even a fifth in the Eifel,” says Hurui Issak, Project Manager Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, looking ahead to the upcoming Carrera Cup weekend.

Issak is expecting some very special guests at the Nürburgring: a delegation from Frankfurt Galaxy. The American Football team recently gave the young drivers from the Talent Pool an exclusive look behind the scenes of their professional team. In return, the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland has invited the athletes to get a taste of the motor racing world.

Larry ten Voorde, Loek Hartog and Huub van Eijndhoven compete for GP Elite. The Dutch racing team currently leads the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland team standings. Their closest rival is Allied-Racing from Bavaria with drivers Porsche Junior Bastian Buus, Harry King and Vincent Andronaco.

In addition to the overall driver and team rankings, the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland also awards points in the Rookie and ProAm categories. Among the newcomers, eleven talented youngsters from six countries pit themselves against each other. Theo Oeverhaus defends his championship lead after six races. Competing for the CarTech Motorsport Bonk team, the German lies sixth overall and is the best-placed young driver from the Talent Pool. Bulgarian Georgi Donchev from the ProfilDoors by Huber Racing team currently tops the ProAm standings. 

All 16 rounds of the 2023 season will be shown live on the internet at www.ran.de (German) as well as with English commentary on the Porsche Motorsport Hub and the one-make cup’s YouTube channel.

Friday, 4 August
9:45 – 10:45 am: Practice
4:05 – 4:40 pm: Qualifying

Saturday, 5 August
11:20 – 11:50 am: Round 7 

Sunday, 6 August
11:20 – 11:50 am: Round 8 

Standings Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland / drivers (after 6 races)
1. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), 131 points
2. Harry King (UK/Allied-Racing), 103 points
3. Loek Hartog (NL/Team GP Elite), 102 points
4. Porsche-Junior Bastian Buus (DK/Allied-Racing), 77 points
5. Morris Schuring (NL/FACH AUTO TECH), 48 points

Standings Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland / Rookies (after 6 races)
1. Theo Oeverhaus (D/CarTech Motorsport Bonk), 112 points
2. Harri Jones (AUS/Scherer Sport PHX), 100 points
3. Vincent Andronaco (D/Allied-Racing), 76 points

Standings Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland / ProAm (after 6 races)
1. Georgi Donchev (BG/ProfilDoors by Huber Racing), 113 points
2. Sören Spreng (D/GP Elite), 111 points
3. Ahmad Alshehab (KWT/CarTech Motorsport Bonk), 91 points

Standings Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland / Teams (after 6 races)
1. Team GP Elite (NL), 239 points
2. Allied-Racing (D), 187 points
3. FACH AUTO TECH (CH), 87 points

Full results and championship standings:
https://motorsports.porsche.com/germany/de/category/carreracup/pccd-2023-results

27-29 April: Spa-Francorchamps (B)
9-11 June: Hockenheimring (D)
23-25 June: Zandvoort (NL)
4-6 August: Nürburgring (D)
18-20 August: Lausitzring (D)
8-10 September: Sachsenring (D)
22-24 September: Red-Bull-Ring (A)
20-22 October: Hockenheimring (D)