Tandy’s JTR team to Carrera Cup
Nick Tandy’s team moves to sportscars with Porsche
Le Mans 24 Hours winner Nick Tandy’s JTR squad will move into Porsche Carrera Cup GB in 2017.
Multiple British Formula Ford title winner JTR currently runs Patrik Matthiesen in the F4 British Championship. It now plans to contest the Carrera Cup with three cars.
“We’ve been thinking about it for a few years and after meetings with Porsche about the future of the championship we decided now was as good a time as any,” said Tandy, who pointed to recent slots supporting the World Endurance Championship (Le Mans in 2014, Spa in 2015 and Silverstone this season) and the arrival of the new Carrera Cup car in the UK in 2018.
“The calendar looks good, supporting the FIA WEC as well as British Touring Cars. Those sorts of events are good for the series.
“It’ll be nice to be fully involved in the championship before the new car.”
Tandy, who won Le Mans in 2015 sharing a Porsche 919 Hybrid with Force India F1 racer Nico Hulkenberg and fellow factory GT driver Earl Bamber, started his sportscar career at Carrera Cup level. He was a race winner in GB and took the 2011 German crown with Konrad Motorsport.
After winning races in the F1-supporting Supercup, Tandy became a factory Porsche GT driver. He believes his experience should help JTR run competitively in 2017.
“I was involved in the original development of the Carrera Cup car, and the new one [set to appear in the Supercup next season],” said the 31-year-old. “I know how to set them up, I know how to drive them, and I will coach our drivers.
“Ideally I’d like to run one car in each of the classes – Pro, Pro-am1 and Pro- Am2. We’ll take on help from some top engineers from the Supercup and German Carrera Cup, and people from Porsche in Germany and North America. The idea is to come in and win straight away.”
Although no drivers have yet been confirmed, Tandy has been talking to candidates for some time. “People have come to us about doing it before, including former JTR drivers looking into sportscars,” he added.
“It’s clear that if you win in GB you will get the opportunity to race in Germany and if you win there you have chances to race all over the world. As long as you keep winning, there is a natural progression into professional motorsport.”
JTR has not ruled out continuing in single-seaters, but Tandy said that “at this point we are 100 per cent committed to running Porsches”. The squad plans to start testing a car this year.