The six finalists (from left to right): Farnbacher, Bachler, Trebing, Pineiro, Blomqvist and Christensen. Photo Credit: Porsche AG
Six young drivers have taken part in an evaluation test at Vallelunga in Italy as Porsche look for new junior drivers.
Porsche Motorsport are currently evaluating the data from the two days, and will then choose drivers to enjoy support as Porsche juniors while contesting the Carrera Cup Deutschland. Porsche will provide the majority of the required budget, with the drivers free to select their own teams.
Experienced Porsche racer Sascha Maassen will be on hand as a coach for the juniors, looking after training and being a mentor.
“The six finalists have had very little opportunity to get experience at the wheel of a GT race car,” said Maassen. “They have far exceeded our expectations. All of the pilots very quickly grasped how you have to drive the 450 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in order to be fast.”
The six finalists have already come out on top of a selection process to see off a host of talented racers from around the world. The first of the finalists is 20-year-old Austrian Klaus Bachler, a race winner in German F3 and a member of the FIA Institute's Young Driver Academy. 18-year-old Brit Tom Blomqvist also won in German F3 last year, after becoming the youngest ever Formula Renault UK champion in 2010. 21-year-old Michael Christensen of Denmark has raced in GP3 for the past two years, while Mario Farnbacher, 19, comes from the ADAC Formel Masters series in Germany. 21-year-old Spaniard Ramon Pineiro finished runner-up in the FIA Formula Two Championship last year, while 20-year-old American Dennis Trebing raced in the VW Scirocco R-Cup.
A number of Porsche juniors have gone onto become fully-fledged factory drivers for the Stuttgart marque, including Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb, Patrick Long and most-recently in 2011 Marco Holzer.
