All the details we noticed at the first three races of the season in the Prototype Cup Germany at the Dekra Lausitzring.

Le Mans winner coaching talented young drivers

Marco Werner, three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, likes to help up-and-coming drivers and is supporting young Belgian Maxim Dirickx (20/BEL, Gebhardt Motorsport). The 58-year-old is working as a coach and also initiated the contact between the 20-year-old Belgian driver and his current Gebhardt Motorsport team. “I would like Maxim to get the benefit of my experience. He is new to motor racing, having come straight from karting. He completed his first races in the Prototype Cup Germany in the Lausitz and I think that he did a good job overall. It is clear that without that experience of motor racing, you can’t just enter the series and take a trophy home at the first attempt. But he was able to show that he has potential.”

Keanu Al Azhari competing on two fronts

Keanu Al Azhari (16/UAE, Mühlner Motorsport) is appearing in the Prototype Cup for the first time in 2024, and the 16-year-old is racing in a second competition too. “I also compete in the Spanish Formula 4. I think that there is plenty for me to learn in Formula 4 and this experience also helps me in the LMP3 car. After I came out on top at the screening for Mühlner Motorsport in the winter, I realised that I would like to compete in the two series in parallel.” However, there are some differences between a Formula 4 car and an LMP3 car. “The LMP3 has more power but it is heavier. And the dimensions are significantly larger, which you really can’t afford to forget when cutting in again after overtaking manoeuvres, for example.” Al Azhari has managed that well so far and has produced some sparkling qualifying performances. He claimed his first pole position in the Lausitz.

Multicultural student

In addition to being involved in motor racing, Keanu Al Azhari is still attending school. “Until the last school year, I went to a normal school with in-person classes, but I was absent for 54 percent of that time. My grades were OK but I was advised to try out an online school. My father accepted this, which is why I am now attending an American online school.” That also means that Al Azhari now takes his homework to the race weekends. “That is not a problem for me, as I can still focus on the motor racing.” At the moment, he travels from Dubai, but he will be spending the summer holidays in Lithuania. “My mother comes from Lithuania, so I have plenty of family there,” explained Al Azhari, who is also fluent in German. “I can speak the language because my grandmother on my father’s side is German.”

Maiden win for Konrad Motorsport

Konrad Motorsport has been involved in the Prototype Cup Germany from day one, but had never experienced such a successful day as this past Sunday in the Lausitz, when Torsten Kratz (53/Mönchengladbach) and Danny Soufi (20/USA, both Konrad Motorsport) claimed victory in two races. One of the reasons was a switch from the Ginetta chassis to a Ligier. “The Ginetta is a really lovely car but we simply didn’t get the support, and the quality of the car was not at the level of a Ligier or a Duqueine. The Ligier is stable, durable, and simple. The running costs are also lower than for the Ginetta,” explains team principal Franz Konrad. Making the switch proved to be the perfect choice, but Konrad is still a little unhappy about it. “I have always liked working on the exotic side and I would have loved to have turned the Ginetta into an LMP3 car that was capable of winning. But that is simply not possible without factory support.”

First triumph for Gebhardt Motorsport

Before Konrad Motorsport celebrated that initial triumph, Gebhardt Motorsport was celebrating a first success in the Prototype Cup Germany. “I already had a plan when we joined the LMP3 series at its inception in 2022: I wanted to go on the attack and be in a position to win by year three,” explains Fritz Gebhardt. Like Konrad, Gebhardt began with a Ginetta chassis. The team from Baden-Württemberg has now also switched to a different make. However, Gebhardt started afresh with a Duqueine towards the end of the 2023 season, and saw last year’s driver Jacob Erlbacher grab second place on the grid in Assen right away. The driver line-up changed over the winter and now features reigning champion Markus Pommer (33/Untereisesheim) racing alongside Valentino Catalano (18/Westheim, both Gebhardt Motorsport). This new pairing guided the team to a maiden victory on their very first appearance.

Konrad Motorsport also takes plaudits in other championships

Franz Konrad chose Danny Soufi and Torsten Kratz as his new driving duo, a pairing that consists of one Junior and one Trophy driver. This means that the Austrian team always starts the races in a great position in the Junior and Trophy competitions. In the Lausitz, it was Mönchengladbach native Kratz who proved unbeatable, finishing all three races as the best Trophy driver. Kratz first attracted attention in 2022 as a fast Bronze racer, celebrating some successes with Leonard Weiss. His current team-mate Soufi claimed two wins at the Lausitzring, with Valentino Catalano prevailing on one occasion. Two of the trophies for the best teams in the three races went to Konrad Motorsport, with Gebhardt Motorsport picking up one.

Surprising performance from Antti Rammo

Antti Rammo (41/EST, MRS GT-Racing) was the surprise package of the weekend. In race one, he produced a great start to move up from fifth on the grid to second place. He defended third place until the pit stop, which he entered just a few seconds too late. “Our radio connection failed. I saw the pit board in time, but I missed the pit lane entry. And one lap later, it was too late,” explained Rammo. The Estonian driver is classified as a Bronze driver and in race three he benefited from the shorter pit stop time for Bronze racers, returning to the track in first place. He held that position for several laps before Danny Soufi managed to overtake him. A collision with Al Azhari damaged his radiator, causing him to spin shortly thereafter. To be on the safe side, he retired from the pits but was classified in seventh place. “In general, I am very pleased with my weekend and the battles for position were brilliant. I hope that I will be able to continue to improve my lap times, as this will help me to make better use of the shorter pit stops.”

Ligier versus Duqueine in the duel of the chassis

The season so far has only featured chassis from Ligier and Duqueine, as the Ginetta is not currently competing in the Prototype Cup Germany. The Ligier chassis has claimed two victories, with a Duqueine victorious on one occasion. That statistics show that Duqueine has chalked up six podium finishes to Ligier’s three.