The 20-year-old from South Germany contested the Prototype Cup Germany for the first time in 2023. Jan Marschalkowski’s experience in the LMP3 cockpit also helped him develop as a racing driver. Now he has his sights set on GT racing and the ADAC GT Masters for 2024.
Jan Marschalkowski (20/Inning am Ammersee) made his LMP3 racing debut in 2023 and drove a Ligier JS P320 for MRS GT-Racing in the Prototype Cup Germany organised by ADAC and Creventic. Marschalkowski ended the year in fifth place overall in the table. “We consistently improved throughout the season – in terms of both driving and the car. However, I am not 100% satisfied generally because I wanted more than to just be battling for fifth place in the championship. That being said, the year was an interesting and exciting experience, and was a lot of fun,” said the 20-year-old looking back on his rookie season in prototype racing.
The 2023 season didn’t start quite as the junior driver had hoped. He finished in eleventh and eighth place at both of the first two race weekends in Hockenheim and Oschersleben. But the big breakthrough came at the end of the first half of the season at the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands, when Marschalkowski and Jasper Stiksma (23/NLD) won the Saturday race. “Zandvoort was simply amazing and was actually a little bit unexpected after the previous results. As a team, we managed to get everything right in Zandvoort,” he explained. “Our pace in the car was great.”
However, regardless of the results achieved, Marschalkowski regularly attracted attention over the course of the season with strong pursuits and exciting overtaking manoeuvres, such as at the subsequent race weekends at the Norisring and in Assen. The 20-year-old was able to show off his driving skills and continuously put himself in the limelight. At the season finale at the Nürburgring, third place in the race on Saturday gave him his second podium of the season.
Marschalkowski’s season in the Prototype Cup Germany was also shaped by a variety of team-mates. In Hockenheim and Oschersleben he shared the cockpit of the Ligier with Marco Kacic (20/CAN). In addition to Zandvoort, Stiksma also joined him in the car in Assen, and at the finale at the Nürburgring, Marschalkowski and Guilherme de Oliveira (18/PRT) shared stints at the wheel. And the MRS GT Racing driver even went it alone at the race weekend at the Norisring. “It goes without saying that it isn’t easy because you are always having to readjust and keep finding new compromises,” analysed Marschalkowski. “But on the other hand, alternating team-mates can also be very helpful because you get a lot more input throughout the year. And since every racing driver has a slightly different technique, you can learn a great deal. No doubt this also enabled me to benefit from the situation.”
Jan Marschalkowski has grown up with ADAC Motorsport. After karting, the Bavarian moved to the ADAC GT4 Germany in 2020 and was crowned Junior Champion in his very first year. He was runner-up in the overall standings in the same series in 2021, before moving to the ADAC GT Masters and GT3 racing in 2022. He then made the move to the Prototype Cup Germany in 2023.
I had already taken part in an LMP3 test in the spring. For me as a young driver it was incredibly important to complete a season in a racing car without ABS and traction control. That was one of the main reasons for me switching to prototype racing,” said Marschalkowski explaining his motives for entering the Prototype Cup Germany. “And now, looking back, this had the desired effect. I’ve learned a lot from the year, so I’ve certainly become an even more complete racing driver. Besides that, the prototypes are a great deal of fun.”
Jan Marschalkowski has also been part of the squad sponsored by ADAC Stiftung Sport (the ADAC sport foundation) since 2022, and thus part of Motorsport Team Germany. “I am incredibly grateful for this support, without which my career in motorsport would have been almost impossible. Away from the racetrack, you also get a lot of input from various seminars,” said Marschalkowski, who is delighted to be part of the sponsorship programme. “And of course, it is a great honour to wear the German eagle on your chest.”
What the 2024 season holds for Jan Marschalkowski is undecided for now. “I would definitely like to stay in the world of ADAC. The prototype field remains interesting since it is attracting a lot of investment around the world,” he said, not ruling out any career path at present. “However, I still really love GT racing. My main objective for 2024 is to find a way back into the ADAC GT Masters and to make the jump into the DTM for 2025.”
