Heading Stateside: Urs Kuratle discusses the importance of the US to Porsche ahead of WEC’s return

The United States has long since proven an important territory for Porsche. Since the first Porsche sports cars arrived stateside in the autumn of 1950, America has warmly embraced the marque, contributing to its enormous global success.

Events like Rennsport Reunion - the world’s biggest Porsche gathering, which attracted more than 300 race cars and almost 100,000 fans to its 2023 edition - reinforce that love, and each meeting has set new records.

In racing, too, the US has been crucial. Porsche has taken many of its most prestigious victories across the pond, including 19 wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona and 18 at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and with success across championships including the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the American Le Mans Series and more.

With the beginning of the Porsche Penske Motorsport collaboration in 2021, ahead of the successful launch of the LMDh programme in 2023, that relationship between Porsche and the US has only strengthened. Team Penske is one of the US’s most successful racing teams, with more than 500 victories and over 40 titles across multiple series - most notably IndyCar, with 20 Indianapolis 500 wins, more than any other outfit.

Now, the FIA World Endurance Championship returns to the States, with the Lone Star Le Mans taking place at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas on September 1. Located in Travis County, south-east of Austin, Texas, the circuit was purpose-built for Formula 1 and was designed by famed architect Hermann Tilke. It officially opened in 2012 and has hosted hundreds of races since.

It is the series’ first visit to Circuit of the Americas since 2020, with the edition before that having been in 2017, and excitement is building for the sixth round of the 2024 championship.

Porsche Motorsport Director of Factory Racing, Urs Kuratle, shares that excitement, and reinforces just how crucial the US is to the brand.

“What we can see is, for example, Rennsport Reunion - it’s so big in the US, and it shows as a good example how important Porsche and Porsche Motorsport is in the US.

“It’s a huge, huge fanbase over there and when we have good results, and luckily we’ve had good results at the end of last year and beginning of this year so far, if we have a victory in an IMSA race, in a US race, we immediately get a lot of positive feedback from fans, but also people within the Porsche organisation.

“Whether that’s from Germany or in the US, from Porsche Cars North America, we get extremely good responses saying thank you very much and everything. So we feel a lot of reactions from our activities over in the IMSA series.

“That’s obviously a bit more visible with the LMDh programme, but it also goes with the GT and all the other commitments that Porsche has in motorsport over there. Long story short, it’s an extremely important market for us.”

Kuratle, who oversees both the WEC and IMSA programmes, emphasises how IMSA events are “booming,” adding: “Every race is a record crowd there, and that’s nice to see. That’s once again very important for us to have that positive feedback. So far, so good - we are leading in all the championships at the moment.”

Key to that IMSA boom has been the introduction of the GTP class last year, which follows similar rules as the WEC’s hypercar class and allows manufacturers to compete across both championships. The class replaced the the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class and saw many new teams flock to the series - Porsche Penske Motorsport among them.

Though Porsche and Penske’s relationship dates back to 1972, when the two brands entered the grid together in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am), the new outfit is the first to see both brands united in one team name.

Bringing together two of motorsport’s biggest names, with hundreds of wins between the two teams, the Porsche Penske Motorsport name also reinforces the importance of that special relationship with the US to Porsche as a brand. This year’s IMSA race at Laguna Seca marked an important milestone to both brands, with the GTP Triumph by Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy marking Team Penske’s 100th sportscar racing win, and the 600th in IMSA for Porsche.

“There’s a reason why Porsche chose Penske - it’s a partnership, it’s not a supplier relationship,” Kuratle says. “It’s visible in the name Porsche Penske Motorsport. Penske is one of, if not the most, successful teams worldwide, not only in the US, with all its victories in different series, and it’s a highly professional team.

“Something which is not highlighted enough sometimes, it’s one of a very few teams that have the size to operate worldwide. The WEC team, which is operated out of Mannheim, is something which is operated by Penske, and that’s part of this partnership.

“There are only a few teams who have the size, the knowledge and the know-how, being able to do so. That’s a big thing. Penske in motorsport, in the US, an extremely big name.”

Given that collaboration, the whole team is excited for the return of the WEC to the US later this season. Recently, teams headed to the Circuit of the Americas for a test, marking the first WEC cars on track there since 2020.

Kuratle says the team “learned really good lessons” during the two days of testing, with rainfall providing crucial data to a race which brings many unknowns. Part of the 3.426-mile (5.514 km) circuit has already been resurfaced, but more work is set to take place before the race itself, providing additional challenges to teams.

The two parts of the team based in Mannheim, Germany and Mooresville in North Carolina work incredibly closely together - something Kuratle dubs ‘Team Global’. He says this close collaboration made the Austin test logistically simpler, allowing the car and mechanics to travel from within the US while the engineering team came from Germany.

Unlike for many, this is not the first time Kuratle has visited the track with Porsche. Having joined as Operations Manager in 2013, he was present for all three of the team’s 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas victories, driven by Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, in 2015 and 2016, with Earl Bamber replacing Webber for 2017.

Kuratle has fond memories of his time at the circuit - one he really likes, which “obviously fitted the 919 quite well,” but emphasises just how challenging it can be given the high temperatures.

Having already tasted victory at Circuit of the Americas, the whole Porsche Penske Motorsport team now heads to Texas with victory in sight. With a win under its belt already this season, can it return to past glory? Find out at the Lone Star Le Mans on September 1.