Recap to the Porsche season in Europe and plans for 2025
17/12/2024
Class victory in the Abu Dhabi 6-hour endurance race
21/01/2025New racing season starts at Abu Dhabi F1 track
15 January 2025
Although the year has barely begun, Latvia’s leading racing driver Valters Zviedris will start his 2025 season already this weekend. The Latvian racing driver will compete in the prestigious Abu Dhabi 6 Hours endurance race, driving the well-known Porsche 911 GT3 CUP car for the German team “Mühlner Motorsport”. Interestingly, among the participants in the race will also be Phil Keene, who played the role of “Stig” in the legendary “Top Gear” show.
The Abu Dhabi 6 Hours endurance race at the “Yas Marina” F1 track will be held for the fifth time this year and will be the second and final stage of the “Middle East Trophy” series, which is taking place within the “24H Series”. The first round, the Dubai 24 Hours, took place last weekend and featured 62 teams, while 57 teams from 17 countries have so far registered for the Abu Dhabi round. 29 teams will compete in the premier GT3 class, while 14 teams have registered for the 992 class, which features Porsche 911 GT3 CUP cars, in which Valters will race.
Considering that 2-4 drivers can compete in one team, the total number of participants promises to be over 150. Among the participants in the leading “GT3” class will be several former F1 drivers, as well as three-time “GT World Challenge Europe” champion Charles Wirth, Benelux and North American “Porsche Carrera Cup” champion Loek Hartog and experienced British racing driver Phil Keen, who played the role of “Stig” in the famous “Top Gear” program from 2010 to 2022. In the “992” class, one of the competitors for Valters will be the fast Belgian Benjamin Paque, with whom the Latvian athlete competed last season in the “Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux” series.
Valters will compete in this competition as part of the successful “Mühlner Motorsport” team, which has participated in more than 1,000 motor racing competitions of various levels since 1989, winning 172 victories, 388 podiums and 18 championship titles. It should be noted that during these years the German team has competed and won class victories in almost all the world’s major 24-hour endurance races. One of Valter’s teammates in this competition will be Estonian Martin Rump, who has successfully competed in various sprint and endurance races in the last 10 years, including twice in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“A new year and immediately new challenges. A very good offer came from the “Mühlner Motorsport” team to participate in the strong Abu Dhabi 6-hour endurance race. A wonderful opportunity to start the season on the famous “Yas Marina” F1 track with the well-known “Porsche 911 GT3 CUP” car. Although I know the car, this will be a completely new, fast and challenging track. I remember playing this track a lot on “PlayStation” as a child, now I will be able to drive on it in real life!” says Valters Zviedris about the opportunity to start the season on the famous F1 track.
“I am going to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, I will be there late in the evening and then on Friday we have a meeting of the participants, as well as getting to know the team, engineers and other drivers. I followed the team’s results at the Dubai stage, the speed both on the track and in the pits was good, only we were unlucky with a couple of contacts on the track. I think we will definitely be able to fight for a good place in the class. At the moment it is not yet clear whether we will be two or three drivers, but one of the team members will be Estonian Martin Rump, and it will be cool to compete together with a Baltic athlete. I am glad that I will be able to get to know a new team, which may bring cooperation opportunities not only for this stage, but also for future competitions, because we are currently still actively working on the plans for the 2025 season,” the Latvian motor racing driver comments on the upcoming competition and this season’s plans.
Valters also wants to express his great gratitude to his supporters: “I would like to say a big thank you to “Baltijas Sporta Auto – Porsche Latvija”, “Optibet Latvija”, “iPS Media”, “Industry Service Partner”, Jūrmala, “Blue Shock Race”, “Joker klubs”, “Energolukss”, “I-Con” and SIA “Dārta”, who continue to believe in my abilities and allow me to compete in such high-level competitions. Last season was not easy, but this year I am determined to regularly participate in the battles for podiums and victories again.”
It should be noted that the Latvian motor racing driver has had great success in endurance racing so far, winning class victories and podiums in both the “Baltic Endurance Championship” and the Palanga 1006km race. Valters also started the 2024 season in the “24H Series” championship, competing in the Mugello 12-hour race as part of the Lithuanian team and winning 2nd place in the class.
This weekend will start for Valters with a meeting of participants on Friday, followed by training and qualifying on Saturday. The Abu Dhabi 6-hour race will start on Sunday morning at 8:30 Latvian time and will be available to watch live on Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4SZW4c-FQ4
Follow Valters on social media – Facebook and Instagram.
Photos by: 24H Series
Information prepared by: Arturs Virbulis
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In Latvian –
https://sportacentrs.com/motoru_sports/16012025-zviedris_jauno_sacensibu_sezonu_iesaks_ja
https://www.jurmala.lv/lv/jaunums/autosportists-zviedris-iesak-sacensibu-sezonu
