Dempsey Racing to Continue Porsche Race Program

After completing their initial season together with a podium result at this past weekend’s Petit Le Mans in the No. 27 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Patrick Dempsey’s and Dempsey Racing’s race competition programs will continue with Porsche the next two years in an expanded and formalized promotional and brand cooperation relationship.

“We are looking forward to the new season and to many more successful years partnering Porsche," said Dempsey, who matched his career-best result with a second-place GT Challenge (GTC) class finish with teammates Andy Lally and Joe Foster in Saturday’s season-finale at Petit Le Mans. “Every race season brings along a number of interesting challenges. The partnership with Porsche this year was the absolute highlight and the main reason for the success we enjoy. This relationship will also help stabilize our team as we intend to compete for the IMSA GT3 Cup championship as well."

Plans for the 2014 season call for a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a full season in the all-new TUDOR SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class and a customer program in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama.

In his first season with Porsche, Dempsey shared the cockpit of a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at the world-famous Le Mans 24 Hours with Foster and Porsche works driver Patrick Long for a strong fourth place in the GTE-Am class.

In ALMS GTC in a Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Dempsey and Lally also earned podium finishes of second at Laguna Seca and third at Circuit of The Americas, in addition to Saturday’s runner-up result at Petit. Lally also gave Dempsey Racing its first pole with Porsche in its first race with the legendary brand when he posted the top GTC qualifying time at March’s season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring.

“It was an honor for me and my team to contest Petit Le Mans for the first time with Porsche and to represent this great brand on the victory podium," Dempsey said. “This is an ideal follow-up to our successful joint appearance at Le Mans last June. To match our season and career-best race result with Porsche was a great conclusion to the season."

“We look forward to a second exciting season with Patrick Dempsey and to continuing our successful partnership," said Jens Walther (at left in picture), President of Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA). “Patrick is a passionate race driver who embodies the professionalism and amiability that makes the Porsche motorsport family what it is."

The Dempsey relationship with Porsche received a high-profile boost and some significant new exposure this year through the highly acclaimed documentary Patrick Dempsey: Racing Le Mans. The four-part series aired on Velocity, Discovery’s high-octane network, in the United States and is currently premiering in Europe to strong reviews and large audiences.

Dempsey Racing is a year-round professional motorsports business based in the greater Atlanta area. The organization has fielded multiple teams in several different racing series throughout North America for nearly a decade and was the organizational and management entity behind the team’s successful campaign at Le Mans with Porsche in 2013. Owned by Patrick Dempsey and operated on a daily basis by Joe Foster and Team Manager Greg Cates, Dempsey Racing also employs year-round administrative and technical personnel that includes several motorsports career professionals.