Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

professional racing driver currently racing for

Porsche Motorsport Porsche has been successful in many branches of motorsport of which most have been in long-distance races. Despite their early involvement in motorsports being limited to supplying relatively small engines to racing underdogs up until the ...

as a factory driver in the

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

. He currently resides in

Waiblingen Waiblingen (; Swabian: ''Woeblinge'') is a town in the southwest of Germany, located in the center of the densely populated Stuttgart region, directly neighboring Stuttgart. It is the capital and largest city of the Rems-Murr district. , Waibli ...

outside of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

Career

Karting

Born in

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

, Vanthoor began his

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

career at an early age. In 2005 he became French and Belgian Champion in the ICA-J class and he also finished fourth in the European Championship. In 2007 Vanthoor become an official factory driver for the CRG racing team in the

KF2 KF2, is a kart racing class for top drivers aged 14 and up. This class used to be called Intercontinental A (ICA) and has changed since January 2007 when Commission Internationale de Karting, CIK-Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA de ...

category. He ended up being out of action for five months out due to an accident, resulting in six fractures. His best result in the season was a runner-up position in the North European Championship.

2008-2011: Formula Three

Vanthoor began his formula racing career in the

2008 German Formula Three season The 2008 ATS F3 Cup was the sixth edition of the German F3 Cup. It commenced on 24 May 2008 and ended on 12 October after eighteen rounds. The title was won by Frédéric Vervisch. Teams and drivers * Guest drivers in ''italics''. {, , {, cla ...

, jumping from karting directly into

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

. He finished fourth overall in the championship, with two wins and three poles. Following his successes, the Belgian Automobile Club (RACB) made him a member of their "National Team" initiative and

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

Motorsport made him an official driver. Vanthoor also became the youngest driver ever in the history of the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

and he finished in sixth position. With

Frédéric Vervisch Frédéric Vervisch ( ; born 10 August 1986 in Kortrijk) is a Belgian racing driver who currently races in the GT World Challenge Europe. Career Early career A winner of numerous karting championships, Vervisch moved to auto racing in 2003 m ...

and

Sebastián Saavedra Sebastián Saavedra (born 2 June 1990) is a Colombian racing driver from Bogotá. In 2014, he drove for KVSH Racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series before being replaced by former GP2 Series driver Stefano Coletti. Racing career Early career Afte ...

both moving Stateside and

Johnny Cecotto Jr. Johnny Amadeus Cecotto, more commonly known as Johnny Cecotto Jr. (born 9 September 1989 in Augsburg, West Germany) is a racing driver. He races with a Venezuelan license but holds both German and Venezuelan nationality. He is the son of former r ...

moving up to the

F3 Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The F ...

and GP2, Vanthoor became the main title contender for the 2009 season. Vanthoor followed Vervisch's lead of 2008 by dominating the field, wrapping up the title at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. He moved into the

Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

for the 2010 season with

Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

and stayed with the team for the 2011 season. He scored several podium finishes but never won a race.

2012: FIA GT1

In 2012 he switched to the

FIA GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand to ...

with WRT. Together with

Stéphane Ortelli Stéphane Ortelli (born 30 March 1970 in Hyères, Var, France) is a Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 ...

, he won both the qualifying and championship races at the first round at

Nogaro Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy. Geography The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, Sain ...

2013-2016: Audi Sport Factory Driver

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

he won the FIA GT Series together with Ortelli for Audi and WRT. In 2014 he competed in the

Blancpain Sprint Series The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, officially known as Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS for sponsorship reasons, formerly the FIA GT Series, is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) ...

and

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...

, winning the latter as well as the overall

Blancpain GT Series GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's G ...

. He also won the

2014 24 Hours of Spa The 2014 Total 24 Hours of Spa was the 66th running of the 24 Hours of Spa. It was also the fourth round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series season and was held on 26 and 27 July at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. The race was won by ...

for WRT together with fellow Audi Sport factory drivers Rene Rast and

Markus Winkelhock Markus Winkelhock (born 13 June 1980) is a German professional racing driver. He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, both of whom were Formula One drivers in the 1980s. During his brief Formula One career he led the ...

In 2015, he started his season in the

Bathurst 12 Hour The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in ...

with Phoenix Racing. He took the pole with a new lap record and ended 2nd. He also drove in Brazil for the 1st round of the

Stock Car Brasil Stock Car Pro Series, formerly known as Stock Car Brasil, is a touring car auto racing series based in Brazil organized by Vicar. It is considered the major Brazilian and South American motorsports series. Starting in 1979 with Chevrolet as the ...

together with

Valdeno Brito Valdeno Brito (born June 29, 1974 in Campina Grande) is a Brazilian racing driver. He has raced in such series as Porsche Supercup and Stock Car Brasil Stock Car Pro Series, formerly known as Stock Car Brasil, is a touring car auto racing ser ...

for Shell Racing at Goiania. Together with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT he won the

24 Hours of Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

in the new

Audi R8 LMS The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufactu ...

2015 specification. On 3 October, during the event at Misano for the

, he was involved in a major crash which led to a serious injury. Therefore, he missed the last race of the season as well as the race at

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

, where he was replaced by

René Rast René Rast (born 26 October 1986 in Minden) is a German professional racing driver and the 2017, 2019 and 2020 DTM champion. He previously drove for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler in Formula E from 2019 to 2021 before Audi left the sport at the end o ...

. He made his comeback at the

Sepang 12 Hours The Sepang 12 Hours (formerly known as the Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race and Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race), was a 12 Hours endurance racing event held annually between 2000 and 2016 at the Sepang International Circuit on December in Mal ...

, which he won with

and Stuart Leonard. In 2016, he started his season with a win in the

Dubai 24 Hour The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a sports car and touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006. Entrants and participants As with all races in the 24H Series, promoted by Dutch promoter Cr ...

with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. On 21 November 2016 Vanthoor won the FIA GT World Cup, crowning himself as World Champion on the streets of

. On 3 December 2016, it was announced that Vanthoor would change from

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

and the focus would be on the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

where he will drive a

Porsche 911 RSR The Porsche 911 RSR and its predecessor GT3 RSR, GT3 RS and GT3 R are a line of GT racing cars produced by Porsche that are used in motorsport for endurance races. They are based on the currently highest class in GT racing worldwide, the GTE cla ...

together with

Kevin Estre Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

. During his last race with Audi, he won the

together with

Robin Frijns Robin Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch motor racing driver. He is the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion, and the first driver to have won the series in his debut season since Robert Kubica in 2005. Frijns is currently competing in Fo ...

Christopher Haase Christopher Haase (born 26 September 1987 in Kulmbach) is a German professional racing driver. He became the FIA GT3 European Champion in 2009, racing for Lamborghini and Reiter Engineering, and raced in GT1 for the first time in 2010. He achie ...

and Phoenix Racing. With this he crowned himself as the first winner of the

Intercontinental GT Challenge The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a sports car racing series developed by the SRO Group in 2016. It consists of international endurance races for grand tourer racing cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations. Format The series is aimed ...

2017-2021: Porsche Factory Driver in IMSA

In 2017, he started his season at the

Daytona 24 Hours 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 layout ...

with his new employer Porsche, in the

. Together with

and

Richard Lietz Richard Lietz (born 17 December 1983 in Waidhofen an der Ybbs) is an Austrian professional racing driver and a Porsche Factory driver. He has competed in such series as American Le Mans Series, Formula 3 Euro Series and the Rolex Sports Car Seri ...

, he finished 10th overall and 6th in the GTLM-class with the new 2017-specification

. After a relatively difficult first season Vanthoor took his first win at the 2018

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regio ...

round.

During the 2018 season Vanthoor also completed the Porsche Le Mans line-up for the #92 car together with

and Michael Christensen in the iconic “pink pig” livery. After taking the lead early on the team went on to win the GTE Pro class at the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours. The following season Vanthoor won the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GTLM class for Porsche together with

Earl Bamber Earl Anderson Bamber (born 9 July 1990) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class. He is the 2014 Porsche Supercup and ...

. The duo took a total of three wins and seven podiums in eleven races. Porsche eventually decided to end its factory involvement in the GTLM class at the end of the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

season leaving Vanthoor out of a factory program for the following season. However, Vanthoor was kept as a Porsche factory driver and loaned out to customer team Pfaff Motorsports for the 2021 IMSA season. He and his teammate

Zacharie Robichon Zacharie Richard Robichon (born May 31, 1992) is a Canadian sportscar racer, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wright Motorsports. Career Karting Robichon got his passion for car racing growing up came from his father who race ...

won the championship in the GTD class. Vanthoor also won the

24 Hours of Spa The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...

a second time in

driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by

Rowe Racing ROWE Racing is the motor racing team of the German lubricant A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces ...

2022: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

In 2022 Vanthoor participates in the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

for SSR Performance driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Vanthoor was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series 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 ...

)

FIA GT competition results

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Complete FIA GT Series results

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

Complete Intercontinental GT Challenge results

^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Vanthoor was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanthoor, Laurens 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Hasselt Belgian racing drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers FIA GT1 World Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers Superstars Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Stock Car Brasil drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Van Amersfoort Racing drivers RC Motorsport drivers Carlin racing drivers Signature Team drivers W Racing Team drivers Audi Sport drivers OAK Racing drivers Rowe Racing drivers KCMG drivers Phoenix Racing drivers Meyer Shank Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers