Max Kruse Racing will enter the complete VLN season 2019 with its VW GTI TCR, and targets the TCR class win for 2019. The team was founded in 2018 by the German pro football player Max Kruse (SV Werder Bremen) together with driver Benjamin Leuchter, and had in its debut season a quite successful campaign in the German ADAC TCR series, with Benjamin Leuchter achieving some podium positions and finishing 8th in the overall classification as best Volkswagen driver. The team had also deployed the VW Golf TCR in the last couple of VLN races at the end of the 2018 series, but suffered from technical issues in both races in the training sessions before the races, with an engine failure in VLN8 and gearbox problems in VLN9.

The drivers line up well reflects the intentions of Max Kruse Racing. Key figure will be 40 years old Andreas Gülden, a well known Nürburgring North Loop specialist with many years of experience on the Nordschleife, who also is the Chief Instructor of the Nürburgring Driving Academy. Andreas Gülden won in 2017 the Nürburgring 24h TCR classification, and in the same year also the VLN TCR championship – together with Benjamin Leuchter (in a VW Golf GTI TCR of the team Mathilda Racing). Andreas Gülden now certainly wants to add another TCR championship in VLN this year to his list of successes, and make Max Kruse Racing the winning TCR team in VLN 2019.

Andreas Gülden will be joined by Volkswagen Motorsport factory driver and VW brand ambassador Benjamin Leuchter, who co-founded the team with Max Kruse in 2018. However, 31 years old Benjamin Leuchter will likely not be available for all VLN races in 2019, as he will in fact compete in FIA WTCR in 2019 as the only German driver, racing in the VW Golf GTI TCR for Sebastién Loeb Racing. In case of race dates conflicts between FIA WTCR and VLN, it will mean that Andreas Gülden will drive the 4 hours VLN races alone.