Four months after the announcement that the Porsche team SSR Performance is entering the DTM, the team from Munich has finally presented its driver duo for the 2022 season.
As reported by “Motorsport-Total.com”, the two Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting numbers 92 and 94 will be driven by Porsche works driver Laurens Vanthoor and Porsche contract driver Dennis Olsen, both of whom will be making their debut in the DTM.
For the team from Munich, which has competed in the ADAC GT Masters for the past two years and won the title in 2021, it is a completely new pairing, having last worked with Michael Ammermüller and Porsche works driver Mathieu Jaminet.
Team thanks Porsche for providing drivers
Ammermüller also contested last year’s DTM guest start at the Nürburgring. Now the racing team supported by the Porsche works team Manthey is relying on fresh blood. “I am extremely satisfied with the selection and provision of Porsche drivers for this project,” says SSR Performance Managing Director Stefan Schlund.
“I’m convinced that we have a powerful squad and can start successfully with both the #92 and the #94.”
Above all, the 30-year-old Belgian Laurens Vanthoor, who – like his younger brother Dries Vanthoor today – was part of the Audi driver pool until the end of 2016, is considered one of the best GT3 drivers ever.
Vanthoor: “It’s been a while since I was alone in the vehicle”
This is also reflected in his record: The 30-year-old can look back on numerous successes as a GT driver, including victories in the 24-hour races of Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps, the Nürburgring and Dubai, titles in the GTLM and GTD ratings of the IMSA SportsCar Championship and winning the FIA GT World Cup.
“I’m really looking forward to the season,” says Vanthoor. “The team has made a name for itself in the sport in such a short time and I’m looking forward to working with them now. It will certainly not be an easy season because the competition is very strong. However, we have the ambition to be successful .”
The Porsche works driver has to get used to it in 2022: “It’s been a while since sitting alone in the vehicle – the motivation is correspondingly high. As far as I’m concerned, it can start,” Vanthoor refers to the fact that you can do that in the DTM Cockpit does not have to share like in other GT series.
Olsen’s career on the upswing again thanks to his involvement in the DTM
For his new team-mate, 25-year-old Dennis Olsen, it wasn’t that long ago, because the Norwegian triumphed in the German Porsche Carrera Cup in 2017 and was promoted to Young Professional at Porsche as a result.
Although he won the Intercontinental GT Challenge in 2019 – and in the course of it the twelve hours of Bathurst and the nine hours of Kyalami – he was downgraded to contract driver in 2020 as part of a squad reduction at Porsche. As a result, Olsen only belonged to the extended group of Porsche drivers.
But now he can be happy, because Olsen’s career is on the upswing again with his involvement in the DTM. “I’m really looking forward to the DTM,” he says. “It’s a great challenge for me to start in such a strong field.”