Laurents Hörr praises ADAC and Creventic for the Prototype Cup Germany, but has mixed feelings about the fact that gold drivers like himself are not allowed to compete
As a national supplement in Germany to the Le Mans Cup, which is held throughout Europe, the newly created Prototype Cup Germany will celebrate its premiere in a few weeks. The race series, which is jointly organised by ADAC and Creventic, features LMP3 cars. The series thus offers an entry opportunity into the European and ultimately also international prototype scene.
“I have been waiting for the series to come for a long time because there is a lot of potential in the class.”
Hörr was the overall winner in the Le Mans Cup, which is hosted by the ACO, in both 2019 and 2020 with DKR Engineering. In 2021, Hörr won the title in the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) for the DKR team from Luxembourg. Regarding the Prototype Cup Germany, he says: “I think it will be good. DKR would also like to enter cars in the German LMP3 championship. “
Hörr himself, however, will not compete in the new race series, for which four race weekends are planned in 2022. “Unfortunately, I’m not eligible as a gold rider,” the 24-year-old notes and says: “That has reasons that are understandable, but also reasons that are perhaps a bit suboptimal, because of course they have to send a few riders away again. I think that in the first year it’s not quite the right thing to do, but that’s the way it is. “
Hörr expressly welcomes the move to a prototype series in Germany, however, because: “The budget for the series is so much smaller than for GT racing. But you still have a lot of access and promotion opportunities.” The budget for the Prototype Cup Germany is also “much smaller than for the next biggest one, i.e. the Le Mans Cup”, as Hörr points out.
In the ELMS, the budget is much bigger again and accordingly Hörr sees the new LMP3 series in Germany as a “super entry for all gentleman drivers or for all young drivers who want to have a look at it first”. The LMP3 driver from southern Germany knows from his own experience: “It’s a lot of information, even with multi-class racing. If you’re not completely familiar with the car, it’s really difficult.”
The Prototype Cup Germany 2022 will not kick off in Germany, but at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium from 22 to 24 April. The rest of the season will see races at the Nürburgring (15 to 17 July), the Lausitzring (19 to 21 August) and the Hockenheimring (21 to 23 October).
In addition to the LMP3 class, whose cars are offered by four manufacturers (Adess, Duqueine, Ginetta and Ligier), there is a second prototype class in the Prototype Cup Germany, the so-called CN class. The cars in this class are classified by means of Balance of Performance (BoP) in such a way that they are around three seconds slower per lap than the LMP3 cars.