Fach Auto Tech: Double opportunity for young talent
TWO 19-YEAR-OLDS IN TWO PORSCHE CUPS Fach Auto Tech is starting the 2022 Porsche Cup season with new cars and drivers. The two 19-year-olds Alexander Fach and Lorcan Hanafin get to show their talent in two championships at once.
According to Supercup coordinator Oliver Schwab, only two of the Porsche Supercup teams take the time and trouble to present their team at a special event. Fach Auto Tech from Sattel is one and did so on Thursday evening at the inviting Porsche Center Zug in Rotkreuz.
Commitment on three levels
For years, PZ Zug has been one of the loyal and valuable partners of the team from Schwyz, which is involved at three levels in 2022. The basis is the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse for customers, the middle is the Carrera Cup Deutschland and the top is the Supercup.
There is no skimping on the material. Alex Fach has purchased eight new Porsche 992 GT3 Cup cars, mentioning that some of the "used cars" change hands for more money than they cost new. Which shows how much demand there is for the latest generation of Cup cars and how well the 30 GT3 one-make cups from Stuttgart are doing worldwide.
Mixture of youth and routine
Keyword generation: young is also the top pairing in the driver squad of Fach Auto Tech 2022. Alexander Fach and Lorcan Hanafin each count 19 years. In the German Cup, the Swabian Christof Langer, a 55-year-old golf course operator who is almost part of the family, occupies the third car, and in the Supercup Jukka Honkavuori (29), who like Hanafin is new to the team.
As the overall runner-up, the Briton was the shooting star of the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain 2021, which also earned him an invitation to the Porsche Junior Sighting at the end of the year. The experienced Finn won the Porsche GT3 Cup Finland for the first time in 2014 and has competed in the Supercup and Carrera Cup Deutschland in the past two years.
A stroke of luck in Dubai
It was not a foregone conclusion that Alexander Fach would be driving for his father's team. On the contrary, the two-time Swiss Porsche GT3 champion already had a contract ready to sign from another team for the German Cup in January when a serendipity occurred at the Dubai 24 Hours.
Through the mediation of Swiss sponsors, a group of investors from Dubai took a liking to the youngster from Schwyz, and they immediately made the double program possible for him. Because the budget and all the conditions were right, Alexander opted for Fach Auto Tech.
No extra sausage for the son
To avoid any suspicion of favoritism among his teammates, another specialist race engineer looks after the team boss's son, who in turn takes Hanafin under his wing. The healthy intra-team rivalry is supposed to drive them to best performances.
While the Englishman with half Irish blood has set his sights on winning the rookie title, the Swiss remains more cautious with his expectations - even though his goal is basically the same.
Alexander Fach: "It's clear that I'll measure myself against my teammate and try to beat him. Otherwise, I haven't really set myself any goals other than to keep improving steadily and take a step forward as a race driver."
Anticipation for Monaco
He says it is a huge leap to move from the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse to the German and virtually the world championship in Formula 1.
Instead of six, there will now be 16 weekends with a total of 20 races, starting with the Supercup at Imola on April 24 - a track he knows very well - and ending with the German finale as part of the ADAC GT Masters at Hockenheim on October 23. Fach jr. is already looking forward to the premiere in the guardrail channel of Monaco in May with anticipation and awe.
Realistic expectations
For Alex Fach, the tenth season in the Supercup with his son in the team is definitely a special one, although he does not want to make this known to the outside world.
Alex Fach: "On the race track, I no longer see Alex as my son, but as one of my drivers with the same duties. We have to behave professionally and distance ourselves from each other. I expect all the drivers to improve their performance, to develop and drive each other."
However, his expectations are realistic. It is dangerous to talk about rankings, he says.
Alex Fach: "In the current starting list, I've counted twelve to fifteen names that can finish on the podium. Actually, my drivers are not among them, but things are so close in the Porsche Cups that anything is possible."
Who will succeed Alexander Fach?
It will also be exciting to see who will succeed Alexander Fach as GT3 champion in the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse. Since runner-up Dominik Fischli is also moving to the international arena (with a Porsche team in the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup), team owner Gregor Burkard, coached by Marcel Fässler at Sportec, would be a candidate. Or nine-time champion Jean-Paul von Burg, if he does indeed get back into the action.
Perhaps one of the four Fach customers will also be smiling at the end. Peter Hegglin, Alexander Schwarzer, Jan Klingelnberg and Ernst Inderbitzin are motivated to give their best with their new cars serviced by Fach Auto Tech and to race for podium places.
The season kicks off next week with the official tests at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet and on the last weekend in April with the first PSCS weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
