After a difficult start to the year, with setbacks outside his control and no points scored in GTWC Asia at Sepang or the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS opener at Paul Ricard, Bastian Buus finally turned the tide last weekend. The 22‑year‑old Porsche Factory driver made his DTM debut with Land Motorsport, now switched from Audi to Porsche, and immediately scored his first points of the season. This weekend he’s back in action for the second round of the GT World Challenge Europe for the Sprint Cup; it will be his first time at the Brands Hatch circuit as Lionspeed GP begins its first‑ever campaign fighting for the overall title after two years in the Bronze Cup.

Early‑Season Setbacks to First DTM Points 

After a rough start to his year, the young Dane remains positive. “All in all, I think we’ve had the performance in every race I’ve done, and the potential to be among the top cars,” he tells GT REPORT. “In the end, I look back at everything thinking that we did what we could.” 

In Malaysia he put the car on pole position in the second qualifying session, but unfortunate situations held him back from scoring points. 

At Paul Ricard, in the opening round of GTWC Europe, he was the fastest Porsche driver together with Ricardo Feller and Thomas Preining in the #80 Lionspeed GP, until steering‑power issues forced them to retire from the race. 

“It happened, I think, for the first time during the weekend, but it’s something we have to look deeper into within Porsche, as it’s a part on the car that did not live up to the reliability it’s supposed to.”

After those two unlucky events, it was finally time for Buus to make his DTM debut, something that didn’t happen last year due to Allied Racing’s bankruptcy. Driving for Land Motorsport, the team used Porsche again for the first time after ten years with Audi. 

The experience of the 2023 Porsche Supercup champion came to good use for the team. “For sure, the team has asked a lot for the experience.” But Buus doesn’t want to put his strong DTM debut solely on himself. 

“It’s good to have someone from the outside asking some of the questions that might not always be said from teams that have been racing the Porsche for a long time. We both developed everything in the right direction. I think it has been a good mix.” 

In his first DTM outing with the Porsche 911 GT3 R, Buus qualified in an impressive fifth place. After a strong race, taking the fastest lap, he crossed the line in fourth, but due to slight contact on lap one on Saturday with the McLaren of Ben Dörr, which caused Dörr to spin and retire, he was pushed back to fourteenth. 

On Sunday, the Dane started sixth and finished tenth, the highest‑placed Porsche driver of the day. He left the weekend with eight points, securing his first points of the year.

Brands Hatch Debut Awaits as Lionspeed Heads Into Its First Pro‑Class Sprint Cup Fight 

This weekend Buus returns to Lionspeed, in the team he shares the car with Preining and Feller, two drivers he also competes against in DTM. “I think we learn a lot from each other on the weekends where we are on the same car, but we also push each other because every one of us wants to be the quickest always.” He adds: “If we start to go 100% competitive between us, it’s not going to give us any advantage when we race together.” 

Preining won’t be there, but Buus and Feller prepare together for the first Sprint Cup weekend of the GT World Challenge Europe season. It will be the first time for Lionspeed to compete for the overall title, stepping up to the Pro category after debuting in Sprint Cup with a two‑car Bronze Cup effort last year and focusing solely on the Bronze Cup for the past two seasons.

 

The team has made quick progress. “I think the professionalism in the team and management of everything has gone to another level since the beginning of the entire project. They have always been aiming to reach the Pro class,” Buus explains to GT REPORT. “But for sure still with the customer mindset of having a Bronze car in the team to keep a good mix of everything.” 

When asked if there is anyone within the team who has had the most impact in all of this, he says: “I cannot really point at just a few, because it’s every single person, each individual having to perform the task they are given and the job that they have to do. Everyone is always pushing to do the absolute best they can.” 

For the young driver, it will be his first time at the Brands Hatch circuit. “I’ve never been there before, so that will be a change and something new.” 

But because the track is a typical old‑school circuit, Buus is looking forward to it. “I’m always a big fan of tracks where you get punished for making a mistake, like Zandvoort. It’s not often we get to race on tracks like this anymore.” 

With Zandvoort as an example, Buus knows what success feels like on a classic track. Last year he took overall pole position there as a Bronze Cup driver and grabbed the win in that class. On the question of whether he or the team feels any pressure, he says: “We always try to deliver the best we can and of course we want to make up for the result in France, we just have to focus on doing our thing.”