After ending their adventure in the FIA World Championship at the end of last season, the Project 1 team is on the verge of disappearance.
The German team, involved in the Asian Le Mans Series until a couple of weeks ago, has filed for bankruptcy in a court in its country having failed to find agreements to undertake new programs.
A bad situation that risks ruining one of the most active companies in the world of GT racing, especially with Porsche, with which it has been on the track for 30 years, first in single-make series and then on the international scene.
Founded in 1993 as Tolimit Motorsport, the team subsequently changed its name to become Project 1, gradually climbing the various series until arriving at the FIA WEC in 2018, achieving the LMGTE AM Class title in 2019 with the 911 GTE driven by Egidio Perfect, Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey.
Subsequently, the 911 RSR-19 branded Mentos also ended up in the hands of our Matteo Cairoli and Riccardo Pera, who together with Perfetti performed well for a couple of seasons. Last year the team entered the World Championship in collaboration with AO Racing, confirming the Como native in the crew of the 'Rexy' together with PJ Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette.
In parallel, Project 1 also opened a chapter in the DTM with the BMW M4 receiving Marco Wittmann from the German company and also racing in the Bavarian single-make series reserved for the M2, then the last adventure in the Asian Le Mans Series which ended all hopes, given that for the new LMGT3 Class of the WEC, Porsche has chosen Manthey Racing as the team to follow the 911 GT3-R 992 of EMA and Pure Rxcing, while BMW has entrusted itself to Team WRT.
Marco Wittmann, Project 1 Motorsport BMW M4 GT3
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
“After numerous discussions with investors, manufacturers, collaborators and friends, we were unable to reach a positive result for the continuation of our companies Project 1 Motorsport and Project 1 Drivetime. The difficult general economic situation, which also affects the motorsport”, reads the official note issued by the team.
“For these reasons, unfortunately, we are forced to file for bankruptcy for both Project 1 GmbH. It pains us even more to have to do so in the year of our 30th anniversary.”
We look back with pride at the following highlights:
-World champion title with Porsche in the debut year of the WEC 2019 in the LMGTE AM category
-Winner in the LMGTE AM category at the 24h of Le Mans with Porsche 2019
-Best Porsche team at the 24h of Dubai 2011
-Dozens of victories in the international Porsche Supercup
-Dozens of victories in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany
-Team champion in debut year with BMW in GT4 Germany 2022
-Second place in the drivers' championship with BMW in GT4 Germany 2022
-Debut in the DTM with BMW in 2023 and two fourth places
-A total of 250 podiums, 12 drivers' titles, 8 team titles and 5 rookie titles.
“These successes would not have been possible without our employees, partners and friends. We would like to sincerely thank everyone involved and our fans. The experience gained by the people of Project 1 over the years will still be part of the world of motorsport in 2024” .
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