Reigning Le Mans champion Timo Bernhard has a long-term plan for his Team75 Bernhard effort, and hopes for it to become a full factory Porsche team in the future

While Bernhard and his father have made the jump from running a Porsche Carerra Cup Germany team (with the talents of Earl Bamber, Michael Christensen, Tom Dillman and Nicki Thiim between 2013 and 2015), to racing in ADAC GT Masters with a GT3 911 over the past three years, he hopes to take his team further in the future. It was a smooth transition though, with the team scoring multiple victories and challenging for the title in its first season.

Along with Team75’s GT Masters programme, the team will be making its first appearance in a long-distance race, when it takes on the Spa 24 Hours in the PRO class with a trio of Porsche works drivers, Laurens Vanthoor, Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre. It’s the first step in his long-term plan.

“This has been an adventure, with my father, who’s always been involved with motorsport. He’s my hero. I want to take this project one step at a time, and not rush it,” Bernhard said to DSC, when asked about the future of his team.

“GT Masters last year from Carerra Cup Germany was good, but it’s not easy. This year we’re doing Spa 24 Hours too, which is a big step, because we have only do sprint races so far.

“We get good support and trust from Porsche, it’s not a full factory effort, but they believe in us for our first 24-hour race. I’m excited, we have a fabulous driver line-up.

“I have a long-term plan for the team. At some point we want to be a factory team, I don’t know how long it will take, but slowly, surely, we want to go step by step. I don’t want to jump straight there, I don’t want to rush things.

“I know where we are heading, and I know what I want to achieve. International GT racing at this (WEC) level would be amazing.

“Spa 24 Hours is the main focus now though, and I’m really excited. I went to the Test Day and I aim to be on the pit wall for the whole 24 Hours during the race.”

Photo courtesy of ADAC GT