Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport 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. , Wai ...

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 Sw ...

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 i ...

, 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 scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

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 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''. {, , {, clas ...

, jumping from karting directly into Formula Three. 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 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 both moving

Stateside Stateside may refer to: * stateside, an informal adjective or adverb meaning "in the United States" **Stateside Puerto Ricans **Stateside Virgin Islands Americans * Stateside Records, the British record label * Stateside (song), a 1991 song by Ti ...

and Johnny Cecotto Jr. 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 ...

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 Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village a ...

. 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 Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, 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 ...

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 with WRT. Together with Stéphane Ortelli, he won both the qualifying and championship races at the first round at Nogaro.

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 fa ...

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

for WRT together with fellow Audi Sport factory drivers Rene Rast and Markus Winkelhock 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 1 ...

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. Racing record Complete Porsche Supercup results (key Key or The Key may refer to: Commo ...

for Shell Racing at Goiania. Together with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT he won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in the new Audi R8 LMS 2015 specification. On 3 October, during the event at Misano for the Blancpain Sprint Series, 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. 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 Ma ...

, which he won with Stéphane Ortelli and Stuart Leonard. In 2016, he started his season with a win in the Dubai 24 Hour 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. ...

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

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 together with Kevin Estre. During his last race with Audi, he won the

together with Robin Frijns, Christopher Haase 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 layo ...

with his new employer Porsche, in the

. Together with Kevin Estre and Richard Lietz, he finished 10th overall and 6th in the GTLM-class with the new 2017-specification Porsche 911 RSR. 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 Kevin Estre 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. 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 and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

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 won the championship in the GTD class. Vanthoor also won the 24 Hours of Spa a second time in

driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R entered by Rowe Racing.

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 s ...

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)

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

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

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

( key) (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

( key) (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