Land-Motorsport is back with Porsche, and a return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours is already one of the team’s main ambitions for 2027.

After ten successful years with Audi in GT3, including victory in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters and overall honours at the 2017 Nürburgring 24 Hours, the Westerwald-based team has returned to the brand with which it first built its name. Founded by Wolfgang Land, the team became best known for its Porsche success in Carrera Cup Germany, the NLS and endurance racing before switching to Audi a decade ago.

Now Christian Land is leading the family team into what he calls “a new old chapter”, with Land-Motorsport racing a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the DTM with Bastian Buus.

Back to where the story began

“We are happy to be back,” Christian Land told GT REPORT about the team’s return to Porsche. “For sure, we look back on ten successful years with Audi, but now a new chapter starts. A new old chapter starts.”

Land-Motorsport did not leave Audi because the R8 LMS GT3 had stopped being competitive. The car still has potential, as other teams continue to show, but without a clear factory-backed future from Audi, the team needed a manufacturer with a longer-term GT3 path.

That made Porsche more than a nostalgic return. It made the brand the logical next step.

“Ten years ago we started with Audi and GT3 racing,” Land said. “In the last ten years, the most success we had in our team history was with Audi.

“But now, as we all know, the situation with Audi is that they are not in the position to bring a GT3 car. We were thinking for a long time that we had to take a step forward and change manufacturer.”

Porsche quickly became the obvious answer. It was the brand with which Land-Motorsport first built its name, and even after a decade away, the connection had never disappeared.

“For sure, the contact to Porsche was still there,” Land explained. “Also after ten years, we knew a lot of people with Porsche. At the end, it was not a really big discussion.

“We had a good relationship with Porsche, good meetings and good calls. To decide to switch to Porsche was a really easy answer for us.”

Porsche support and a Meuspath meeting

The return to Porsche also brought Land-Motorsport into closer contact with Manthey, Porsche’s long-time Nürburgring powerhouse and now its fellow Porsche representative in the DTM. Although the two teams are competitors on track, Land said the relationship has been open and helpful from the beginning.

“The support from Porsche was absolutely amazing from the first minute when we decided to enter Porsche in DTM,” Land said. “I must also say thank you to the Manthey guys, and to Patrick Arkenau and Nicki Raeder.

“Already in November we had a nice meeting in Meuspath. We sat together and talked about that we also want to do the DTM.”

For Land, that cooperation made sense. With both teams representing Porsche in the DTM, there was value in sharing basic information and support, even if the competitive lines remained clear.

“When we are both teams entering a car for one manufacturer, in our opinion it is good to work a bit together and not against each other,” he said.

“For sure, on track we are competitors. But from their side, a massive thank you for all the support we get from them. They have always been very open with us.

“They don’t give us setups or internal stuff, but from the basic things and information about the car, I need to thank Manthey and Porsche.”

Early promise in the DTM

Land-Motorsport’s first DTM weekends with the Porsche 911 GT3 R have shown promise, even if the results have not yet fully reflected the pace of the #29 car. Buus scored a best finish of tenth at the Red Bull Ring, while Zandvoort brought both the strongest qualifying performance so far and another frustrating race outcome.

The Dutch weekend started badly on Friday, with Buus unhappy with the balance of the car, but the team worked late into the night to turn it around for Saturday.

“On Friday it was not that good,” Land said. “The car was, as Basti called it, really bad.

“But as a team, we worked so strongly together. The guys worked through one o’clock in the morning and changed everything. The engineers and the support engineers from Porsche were working very closely together, sitting there and trying to find solutions.”

By Saturday morning, Buus qualified fourth and was the highest-placed Porsche, a turnaround Christian Land described as the “complete opposite” of the day before. The race itself also showed promise, with Buus spending much of it in a fight with Jules Gounon before the car was later excluded for being underweight.

“The race was quite good,” Land said. “Basti had the fight with Jules Gounon the whole race, which he did great.

“At the end, the underweight car and disqualification was not what we wanted. But we are close as a team. We win together, we lose together.

“Now we have to make sure that issue was only one time and will not happen in the future.”

Nürburgring 24 Hours return is the next target

While the DTM marks Land-Motorsport’s return to Porsche, the Nürburgring remains central to the team’s identity. Based around 100 kilometres from the circuit, the team has long been associated with the Nordschleife through the NLS and the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

A return to the 24-hour race is therefore already high on the team’s list.

“The 24-hour race is actually our home race,” Christian Land explained to GT REPORT. “For sure, it is a wish from us to come back to the Nürburgring. We also have a lot of fans there asking. We want to do that.

“That is also a big piece of our history. Our goal is to be there next year.”

A 2027 Nürburgring 24 Hours entry has not yet been confirmed, but Land said talks are already underway with different parties, including Porsche.

“We are talking about that since some weeks and months with different people and with our manufacturer,” he said. “It is a wish from us. If it will happen, maybe we will see in some months.

“I can say we are strongly pushing to be a part of the 24 next year.”

For Land-Motorsport, the Porsche return naturally points back towards the Nürburgring. The team’s history is there, its home race is there, and the passion to be part of the 24 Hours again is clearly still alive.

If the pieces come together, 2027 could bring Land-Motorsport back to the race that has shaped so much of its history.