Top six in every race so far, and an appearance on the podium: Racing Experience driver Sebastian von Gartzen is enjoying a really good first season in LMP3 and wants to start in the Prototype Cup Germany again in 2023.
Sebastian von Gartzen (29/Butzbach) is making his LMP3 debut in 2022. The driver from Hesse lines up in the new Prototype Cup Germany at the wheel of a Racing Experience Duqueine D08, which he shares with Gary Hauser (30/LUX). Von Gartzen was impressed with the 455-hp prototype from the first metre. “Driving an LMP3 car is just fun,” he says. “The car reminds me of a Formula car. It has a lot of aerodynamics, a low centre of gravity, weighs relatively little, and yet still has a lot of power.”
However, the 29-year-old was thrown in at the deep end when he moved into LMP3 racing, as his involvement in the Prototype Cup Germany had still not been confirmed last winter. “It was all decided just before the start of the season. As such, I only got my first kilometres under my belt at the season-opener at Spa-Francorchamps in April,” says the Racing Experience driver. However, that did not stop von Gartzen and his team-mate Gary Hauser from twice finishing in the top five at the race weekend in the Belgian Ardennes. He backed up that performance at the next event, with a fifth and a sixth place at the Nürburgring. Things went even better at the Lausitzring, where the duo claimed their first podium in the Saturday race and added a fourth place on Sunday.
“I am obviously very happy with the race results,” says a beaming von Gartzen, looking back at the three race weekends so far. “However, the performance has also been good in qualifying. Both at the Nürburgring and the Lausitzring, we were able to put our Duqueine on the front row of the grid. Our form has been improving dramatically over the course of the season.” With that, the objective for the season finale, from 21st to 23rd October at the Hockenheimring, is clear: “We want to finish on the podium in both races and challenge for third place in the championship.”
He has inherited his love of motorsport from his father Jürgen von Gartzen, a well-known racing driver who twice lined up in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and also started in the ADAC GT Masters. However, although Sebastian used to accompany his father to the racetracks as a child, he was 14 before he started to put pedal to the metal himself. After three years on the karting circuit, he started his first Formula Renault race in 2010, before contesting the full season in the French single-seater in 2011. After that, he initially bid farewell to the racetrack and competed in the ADAC Opel Rally cup from 2013 to 2016. After starts in the 2017 German Rally Championship, he shifted focus to the Nordschleife in 2018. With success: In 2019, Sebastian von Gartzen took class victory in a Cup Porsche at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. He switched to ADAC GT4 Germany for the 2010 season, where he drove a BMW M4 GT4. After more races on the Nordschleife in 2021, he moved to the Prototype Cup Germany in 2022.
Sebastian has a very good relationship with his father Jürgen van Gartzen. “He accompanies me to the races and really helps me. It is nice to have a competent person at my side – someone who knows what it is like when you put that helmet on,” says von Gartzen junior, pleased to have support from his family. Father and son also get on very well away from the racetrack. “I am part of the management team in his company. We have two chassis and paint shops. I run one of them,” he explains. “I am also an instructor. We offer driver and circuit training courses.”
Sebastian von Gartzen is keen to race in the Prototype Cup Germany again in 2023. “We are already in talks with potential sponsors,” he confirms. “The goal is to continue to race in LMP3 and this series. I really like the Prototype Cup Germany.”
