Photo: Volkswagen Media

Max Kruse Racing announce TCR Germany programme

A new team founded by the German international footballer Max Kruse will race in the ADAC TCR Germany series this season.

Max Kruse Racing will run a single Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR for Benjamin Leuchter in the series, which gets underway at Oschersleben in April.

As well as the TCR programme, the Werder Bremen forward will use the new team to raise the profile of drive safety course, particularly amongst his fellow professional footballers.

“Sport stirs up emotions – that goes for football and motorsport,” VW Motorsport director Sven Smeets said. “As such, we are delighted that the Max Kruse Racing team has opted for a Golf GTI TCR.

“We hope the team has a great debut season in TCR Germany, and a successful start as a business.”

Leuchter finished fifth in the TCR Germany standings back in 2016 and won the TCR class of the VLN Series last year in a Golf before joining the WestCoast Racing team for the final rounds of the TCR International Series.

The 30-year-old was also part of the Liqui Moly Team Engstler outfit that took victory in the TCR Class of the Dubai 24 Hours last weekend

“Max Kruse Racing is bringing football and motorsport together,” he said. “The same thing leads to success in both sports: you have to be disciplined and work hard to improve.”

The team has already taken delivery of the first Golf GTI TCR to come off the production line in 2018.