High Class Racing is a Danish

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

team founded in the early 1990s and currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

History

High Class Racing was founded in the early 1990s initially competing in the

Maserati Barchetta The Maserati Barchetta is a mid-engine racing car, like the 350 and 450S, that was designed by Carlo Gaino of the Synthesis Design, an Italian design house. The Barchetta was designed and developed for the one-make racing series ''Grantrofeo Bar ...

Trophy, claiming the title and becoming European Champions in the very first year of racing. The success tied the bonds as a Maserati factory team, with the aim of evolving their GT1 Le Mans project. After a sudden diagnose of Mr. De Tomaso the program was unfortunately cancelled.

Glory times with Renault Sport

After the successful period with Maserati, High Class Racing moved on to build a relationship with

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

and was a dominant factor throughout their European Championships. In the late 1990s and early period of the new century, the team claimed titles in both the

Renault Spider The Renault Sport Spider is a roadster produced by the French automaker Renault Sport (a subsidiary of Renault) between 1996 and 1999. Project The idea for the Renault Spider was formulated in the early 1990s: in the midst of a revival after a d ...

Cup as well as the

Renault Clio V6 The Renault Clio V6 Renault Sport is a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout sport compact based on the Renault Clio launched in 2001. Designed by France, French automaker Renault the Phase 1 models were built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) in ...

Trophy. Furthermore, HCR was a leading team in the Formula Renault.

Scandinavian efforts

High Class Racing has been competing on the Scandinavian scene for more than 20 years as a top team with prominent drivers such as

Tom Kristensen Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...

Kurt Thiim Kurt Thiim (born 3 August 1956 in Vojens) is a Danish race car driver. After his karting career he raced in single-seaters from 1978 to 1984 before moving to the DTM. He won the championship in his debut year in 1986 driving a Rover Vitesse, and ...

, John Nielsen,

Kris Nissen The kris, or ''keris'' in the Indonesian language, is an asymmetrical dagger with distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (''pamor''). Of Javanese origin, the kris is famous for its dist ...

Jan Magnussen Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula O ...

and also a very young

Kevin Magnussen Kevin Jan Magnussen (born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Haas F1 Team. He is the son of four-time Le Mans winner and former Formula One driver Jan Magnussen. Kevin Magnussen came up through Mc ...

. During this period HCR also operated as factory backed NISSAN–McDonald's Racing.

Taking it European-wide and globally

After many great years with top drivers in national racing, High Class Racing switched back to international level competition with a move to the Renault Sport Trophy in the

Renault Sport R.S. 01 The Renault Sport R.S. 01 is a sports racing car manufactured by Renault Sport, the performance division of French automaker Renault. It was originally built to compete in the Renault Sport Trophy, the company's one-make racing series, serving a ...

in 2016. When the series folded a new chapter was however needed.

Endurance and sprint racing

Dallara P217 - Gibson - High Class Racing - 4 Hours of Silverstone 2017

The team acquired a pair of brand new Dallara P217s and entered the

in 2017 claiming an overall sixth in their first year of endurance racing, with several podium finishes on their record list. High Class Racing has been a regular entry in the ELMS ever since with a consistent driver lineup, also assisting

SMP Racing SMP Racing is the motor sport endurance racing team and also motorsport management created in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, founder of the SMP Bank of Russia. Description The goal of SMP Racing is to train and unveil new talents. The team's training ...

in their

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

program in the ELMS as well as the

2017 24 Hours of Le Mans The 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 85e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance event held for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars from 17 to 18 June 2017 at the Circuit de la Sart ...

. On the other hand, the team confirmed in 2021 a new challenge in the Fanatec

GT2 European Series The GT2 European Series (formerly the GT Sports Club and Blancpain GT Sports Club), organized by SRO Motorsports Group, is an auto racing series for the SRO GT2 class of grand tourer cars, designed for amateur pay drivers in the FIA Bronze catego ...

, a championship that forms part of the revitalised SRO's GT Sports Club concept]. The category provides a competitive outlet for the high-power models already produced by Porsche, Audi, KTM and Lamborghini and High Class Racing entered the championship with the new Audi R8 LMS GT2 which uses a 5.2-litre V10 engine designed as a naturally aspirated unit for the first time in the racing version, delivers 470 kW (640 horsepower) and, as a result, offers nearly 30 per cent more power output than in the most powerful version the Audi R8 LMS GT3 to be by far the most powerful sports car in the history of the customer racing program. The team added a second entry for GT2 European Series Season Finale at Paul Ricard with Dennis Andersen and David Brabham driving the brand new Brabham BT63 GT2 Concept for the first time in an official competition. High Class Racing was crowned 2021 Fanatec

Champion with 5 wins, 3 Pole Position, 8 podiums & 8 fastest laps in his debut with Anders Fjordbach & Mark Patterson behind the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS GT2.

FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans

High Class Racing gained a late entry to the

2019 24 Hours of Le Mans The 87th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''87e 24 Heures du Mans'') was an 24 hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 15 to 16 June 2019 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close to Le ...

. Despite the short preparation time, the team managed to finish in 11th position. In 2019/2020, after a switch to French prototype manufacturer

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...

, High Class Racing is participating in the (full season) 2020 FIA World Endurance Championship and will furthermore enter the

2020 European Le Mans Series The 2020 European Le Mans Series was the seventeenth season of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) European Le Mans Series. The six-event season began at Circuit Paul Ricard on 19 July and finished at Algarve International Circuit on 1 Novem ...

with a second

Oreca 07 The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayto ...

. The team confirmed later in 2020 an Oreca 07 LMP2 entry for the Rolex

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layo ...

, which took place on 30–31 January 2021 and then some weeks later former Formula 1 driver and four time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner

joined High Class Racing regulars

Anders Fjordbach Anders Fjordbach (born 4 November 1990) is a Danish racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Career Fjordbach began his senior racing career in 2007, competing in the Yokohama 1600 Challenge Denmark and the ...

and Dennis Andersen as first drivers confirmed for the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season. High Class Racing announced a second LMP2-entry ahead of the 2021 24h of Le Mans with Kevin Magnussen as the lead driver. joining his father Jan and Anders Fjordbach in car #49. After a decent start of 2021 season at 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the team scored its first-ever WEC podium after finishing P3 in LMP2 ProAm class during 8 Hours of Portimao. High Class Racing run an academy for determined, young open wheel and endurance hopefuls, and have international level junior drivers in

Formula 4 FIA Formula 4, also called FIA F4, is an open-wheel racing car category intended for junior drivers. There is no global championship, but rather individual nations or regions can host their own championships in compliance with a universal set of r ...

as well as touring cars.

Rolex 24 at Daytona

After confirm the debut in 2021 Rolex

, the team confirmed their driver lineup that will be led by former Formula 1 driver and Canadian Grand Prix winner

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...

, who is currently contracted by Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN as reserve driver. Kubica will be joined by Austrian DTM-star Ferdinand Habsburg, who completes the strong lineup with High Class Racing regulars

and Dennis Andersen.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Rolex 24 at Daytona results

World Endurance Championship results

* Anders Fjordbach and Jan Magnussen didn't race with this car in 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. Anders still sharing the #20 Oreca 07-Gibson with Dennis Andersen for the rest of the season ** Robert Kubica joined the team for season finale double-header in Bahrain replacing Jan Magnussen

World Endurance Championship LMP2 Pro/Am results

IMSA SportsCar Championship results

** MEC - Michelin Endurance Cup. ‡ Points only awarded towards Michelin Endurance Cup championship

Fanatec GT2 European Series results - ProAm Class

Asian Le Mans Series results

European Le Mans Series results

References

{{Reflist 24 Hours of Le Mans teams European Le Mans Series teams Danish auto racing teams FIA World Endurance Championship teams WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams Audi in motorsport Auto racing teams established in 1990