It’s early December and that means it’s time for Porsche’s annual Night of Champions Dinner. An opportunity for drivers, team members and executives to celebrate the past season’s success and announce plans for the upcoming motorsport season. One part of the announcements we always look forward to is the “official” naming of Porsche’s factory drivers. Porsche had already announced a number of changes to their factory driver line-up including the retirement of Mark Webber, the removal of Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas from the LMP1 driver line-up and the promotion of Sven Müller from Porsche Junior to works driver. At this year’s Night of Champions Dinner we learned the rest of their plans including the addition of three more factory drivers (André Lotterer for LMP1, Dirk Werner and Laurnes Vanthoor for GT).
2017 Porsche Factory Drivers
Earl Bamber (New Zealand)
Series: FIA WEC LMP1
Car: 919 Hybrid
Twitter: @earlbamber
Website: www.earlbambermotorsport.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/earlbambermotorsport
Jörg Bergmeister (Germany)
Series: TBD
Car: 911 RSR and 911 GT3 R
Twitter: @JBergmeister
Website: N/A
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Joerg-Bergmeister-Porsche-Works-Driver
Timo Bernhard (Germany)
Series: FIA WEC LMP1
Car: 919 Hybrid
Twitter: @Timo_Bernhard
Website: www.timo-bernhard.de
Facebook: www.facebook.com/timobernhard.de
Michael Christensen (Denmark)
Series: FIA WEC GT
Car: 911 RSR
Twitter: @ChristensenMK
Website: www.michaelkchristensen.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mcracedriver
Romain Dumas (France)
Series: TBD
Car: 911 RSR and 911 GT3 R
Twitter: @RomainDumas
Website: www.romaindumas.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RomainDumasOfficiel
Kevin Estre (France)
Series: IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship
Car: 911 RSR
Twitter: @kevinestre
Website: www.kevinestre.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kevin.estre
Brendon Hartley (New Zealand)
Series: FIA WEC LMP1
Car: 919 Hybrid
Twitter: @brendonhartley
Website: www.brendonhartley.co.nz
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrendonHartleyMotorsport
Wolf Henzler (Germany)
Series: TBD
Car: 911 RSR and 911 GT3 R
Twitter: @wolf_henzler
Website: www.wolfhenzler.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/wolfhenzler.racebook
Neel Jani (Switzerland)
Series: FIA WEC LMP1
Car: 919 Hybrid
Twitter: @neeljani
Website: www.neel-jani.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NeelJaniRacing
Richard Lietz (Austria)
Series: FIA WEC GT + Long distance races in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship
Car: 911 RSR
Twitter: @RichardLietz
Website: www.richard-lietz.at
Facebook: www.facebook.com/richard.lietz.9
Patrick Long (United States)
Series: Pirelli World Challenge (competing for Wright Motorsports)
Car: 911 GT3 R
Twitter: @pLmotorsport
Website: www.patricklong.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Patrick-Long/
André Lotterer (France)
Series: FIA WEC LMP1
Car: 919 Hybrid
Twitter: @Andre_Lotterer
Website: N/A
Facebook: www.facebook.com/alotterer
Frédéric Makowiecki (France)
Series: FIA WEC GT + Long distance races in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship
Car: 911 RSR
Twitter: @FredMako1
Website: www.fredmako.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FredMako1
Sven Müller (Germany)
Series: TBD
Car: 911 R and 911 GT3 R
Twitter: @Sven_Mueller14
Website: www.sven-mueller-racing.de
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SvenMuellerOffical
Patrick Pilet (France)
Series: IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship
Car: 911 RSR
Twitter: @PatrickPilet
Website: www.patrick-pilet.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/patrick.piletracepage
Nick Tandy (UK)
Series: FIA WEC LMP1
Car: 919 Hybrid
Twitter: @NickTandyR
Website: N/A
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NickTandyRacing
Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium)
Series: IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship
Car: 911 RSR
Twitter: @VanthoorLaurens
Website: www.laurensvanthoor.be
Facebook: www.facebook.com/laurensvanthoor.be
Dirk Werner (Germany)
Series: IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship
Car: 911 RSR
Twitter: N/A
Website: www.dirk-werner.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dirkwernerracing
Interestingly, there is no mention of Marc Lieb in Porsche’s plans for 2017 so we’ll have to wait and see if there’s an official announcement.