Since 1997 Porsche has provided intense support for youngsters in motorsport. 2012 will be no different. For the upcoming season two young drivers will receive support as “Porsche Juniors” during the Carrera Cup Deutschland campaign. As part of the program Porsche provides a significant portion of the seasonal budget for the young pilot’s team. Along with the financial assistance comes a coach to assist in training both on and off the track. The expanded 2012 program runs for four (4) years.
If performance is up to par, the young drivers may get the opportunity to move into the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup (the word’s fastest international one-make series) that runs as support to the Formula 1 series. Concurrently, some of the top performers will participate in the Carrera Cup Deutschland. Similar to full-fledged factory drivers, the younger pilots receive fitness tests with constantly changing training plans, media training and information on managing sponsor obligations.
“For us, supporting talented youngsters is an investment in the future. In line with our LMP1 project we want to expand our driver line up. After all, aside from our works commitment in prototype racing, we don’t want to neglect our GT racing activities and we also want to support our customer teams with works drivers in the future,” says Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport.
While it takes a lot of hard work, Porsche motorsport fans will recognize names like Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb and Patrick Long. These three factory drivers all got their start in the Porsche Junior program. Most recently, in 2011, Marco Holzer was called up from the minor league and into the majors as a full time Porsche works driver.
So, if you’re child is interested in racing, get them into that go-kart. Who knows, in a few years we could all be watching them in our next favorite Porsche race.
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