What you need to know about Team Project 1

Perhaps the opening race of the 2018 WEC season at Spa did not end quite the way the Project 1 team had hoped, but they came away from the Belgian race having learnt a ship load of lessons. Success in motor racing does not come easily, it is earned through sweat, tears, disappointment…and then comes success and recognition. This is what you need to know about Team Project 1 ahead of the biggest race of the season, the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Team Project 1 may be new to the WEC series, but as a racing team they have been around for a quarter of a century. It is in the Carrera Cup Deutschland and the Porsche Supercup, that the team has earned its stripes as a serious GT contender.

Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours, 5 May 2018: #56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR (LMGTE Am) driven by Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti in the pits during practice ahead of the race

On 28 March 2018, Team Project 1 unveiled its official entry into this season’s WEC Super Season. Having competed in the Carrera Cup and Supercup for many years will have given the team invaluable experience in a highly competitive environment, but the magnitude of the step up from the two one-make series to the WEC, has not been lost on the team. The Spa race certainly showed the team just what was needed to compete on the international stage in endurance racing. This opening race was an exercise that tested the team’s experience and capabilities, and showed how important it is to have a cooperative, well-oiled system for dealing with every eventuality in long distance racing.

So, while Project 1 might be a new team on the block, they have some heavyweight experience to bring to the party and they will be a strong force in the GTE Am class at Le Mans and for the remainder of the 2018/2019 WEC Super Season. It is worth noting that the 911 RSR that the team will compete with in the 2018/2019 WEC is the mid-engined car that was introduced in 2017, while in the Carrera Cup and Supercup, the cars still run with the traditional rear-engined 911 layout.

The Project 1 Team:

Team founder	Hans-Bernd Kamps
Team location	Lohne, Lower Saxony, Germany
Team manager	Marcel Jürgens-Wichmann
WEC programme leader	Axel Funke
Team strap line	Be Cool, Be Fast, Be First

Racing Career Highlights:

Year	Results
2017	Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, P2 Driver, P1 Rookie, P1 Team
2016	Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, P2+P3 Rookie
2015	Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, P1 Driver, P1 Rookie, P1 Team
	Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, P1 Driver, P1 Rookie
2014	Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, P1
	Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup
2013	Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland
	Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup

In a mutually beneficial set-up, Park Place is a minor sponsor on the Project 1 car. This arrangement helps to affirm the connection of one of America’s premier Porsche dealerships with the factory in Germany. In addition, Park Place Motorsports and Project 1 share some resources such as the two drivers, Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey, as well as one of Project 1’s engineers who teams up with Park Place for the Daytona 24 Hours to gain valuable endurance racing experience. This arrangement has enabled the teams to share information which is not a problem as far as rivalry is concerned, as the two teams compete in different series.