Defending champion and three Porsche aces start for Timo Bernhard. Küs Team Bernhard brings René Rast’s former crew chief on board.

Two young Porsche specialists complete the driving line-up for Küs Team Bernhard in the ADAC GT Masters: in Jannes Fittje (21/Langenhain) and Porsche Supercup runner-up Dylan Pereira (23/LUX), the racing team run by two-time Le Mans winner and FIA WEC world champion Timo Bernhard has acquired two talented young drivers for the German GT Championship, who already boast a wealth of experience at the wheel of the 911. The new ADAC GT Masters season kicks off from 14th to 16th May at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Free-to-air TV station NITRO will broadcast all 14 races live and in full.

“I find it really exciting that, with the number 74, we will be lining up with a real ‘junior car’ and two very promising youngsters,” says team principal Timo Bernhard. He and the team had already announced a strong first pairing of defending ADAC GT Masters champion Christian Engelhart (34/Starnberg) and Porsche works driver Thomas Preining (22/A). “With Jannes, we saw a great development last season. His fifth place in the rainy qualifying at the Lausitzring, in extremely difficult conditions, showed what he is capable of. And there is more to come. In Dylan, we have a real young star, who has performed very, very strongly in Porsche one-make cups. I also expect great things from him. I like the homogeneity in our troop, including on the driving side, especially as we set great score by team play.”

For Jannes Fittje, this is the second season in the ADAC GT Masters. In 2020, he finished runner-up in the Pirelli Junior competition, narrowly missing out on the title. The young German, a former ADAC Stiftung Sport driver, had already gained experience with the Porsche 911: he contested his first season at the wheel of the 911 in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, which this year once again features five times on the programme for the German GT Championship. “I think it is very important to spend a second year driving for the same team, and to be able to continue the good work we have done together,” says Fittje. “We can now improve all the things we achieved and developed together last season, and make them even more effective, in order to achieve one or two really good results. We have a very good line-up again this year, with which we can be successful. I think we will definitely challenge for the Junior title. I am looking forward to the first test. It is gradually becoming hard to stand not being in the car. It can’t start soon enough for me.”

His driving partner Dylan Pereira has made a name for himself in Porsche one-make cups in recent years. The Luxemburger spent several season racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup and the Porsche Supercup. In 2020, he finished runner-up in both series. “I am very happy to be racing in the ADAC GT Masters,” says a delighted Pereira. “It is obviously also great to enter the series with Küs Team Bernhard, Porsche legend Timo Bernhard’s team. I believe we will work well together. I hope we will be successful together and challenge for victories – and ideally the title.” Team Bernhard has also acquired the services of an experienced crew chief, in the form of Max Messidat. As coordinator, he will look after all the programmes and cars implemented by the team. Messidat comes from the DTM, where he was responsible for René Rast’s car, with which he won the title in 2017, 2019 and 2020.