Patrick Huisman

23/8/1966

Record updated 23-Aug-07

Patrick is one of the top endurance racers taking wins in GT3 at Le Mans and Sebring in 1999. He has also won twice at Zolder and at the Nürburgring. In the Porsche Supercup he won four-consecutive Championships between 1997 and 2000.

Patrick Huisman
Patrick Huisman was born in . He started racing in the highly competetive Squadra Bianca salooncar champioships in 1988. The following year he won all seven races to take the title in a dominant display of driving.

He moved up to the Dutch Touring Car Championships in 1990 with a privately run BMW M3, finishing a creditable 5th in the series. He took the title in 1991 driving a BMW 320i for the works BMW Holland team. He had a test that year for the BMW Junior team, finihsing 4th, just behind Alain Manu, Michael Bartels and Rinaldo Capello.

He drove in the Porsche Carrera Cup in 1992, winning Rookie of the Year honors, and took a Group N class win in the 24 hour race at Nürburgring in a BMW M3.

1993 was a busy year. In Holland he drove for the works BMW Holland team, taking second in the Dutch Touringcar Championship with a BMW 320i. He raced as a privately entered BMW in the ADAC GT Cup in Germany finishing 9th overall in the final standings, the top privateer. At the end of the year he took part in the Interserie round at Hockenheim with Group C Spice Ford, finishing second.

In 1993 was busy, 1994 was an even more demanding schedule. Second again in the Dutch Touring Car Championship for BMW Holland, he drove for BWM Motorsport at the Nürburgring in the 24 hour race. He put the Group A BMW M3 on pole and led for the first hour until an accident put him out of the race. At Spa he drove for Team Schneider with a Group N BMW 3201. He once again was on pole and led the race until mechanical problems put him back to 5th.

He made the trip to Le Mans that year with Konrad Motorsport. Driving a Porsche RSR he finished 10 overall and third in GT2. He drove five races in the Porsche Supercup and one race in the ADAC Touring Car Series at Spa.

Patrick concentrated on the Porsche Supercup in 1995 finishing 4th in the series and in 1996 when the series became part of the F1 package he finished one place better in third.

1996 saw Patrick driving a Porsche GT2 in the FIA GT Championship. In three races he placed second twice and retired in the the other round. In the Belcar GT series he raced at Zolder in the 24 hour race, taking pole and finishing 3rd. He won the Porsche Carrera Cup race in Helsinki, the support race for the German Touringcar Championship, having put his car on pole.

He took his first of four Porsche Supercup Championships in 1997. He raced a GT2 Porsche in theBelgian Belcar series, finishing 2nd overall after taking pole and an overall win in 24 hour race at Zolder. He tested for Porsche in their GT1 car.

Another Porsche Supercup Championship followed in 1998 as well as overall victory in the Belgian Belcar series. In endurance racing he finished 5th overall and second in class in a Porsche GT2. He was fourth in class at Sebring in the 12 hour race and then joined the works Chrysler team at Le Mans joning Karl Wendlinger and Mark Duez in the Viper. They were leading their class until an electrical fault put them out.

A dissapointing result in the Spa 24 Hour touring car race was due to an electrical problem early on in the race. they eventually finished 15th. Patrick then joined up with Marc Goossens and Thiery Boutsen in the works supported Porsche GT1 at Zolder 24 Hour race, taking overall victory.

The won his third consecutive Porsche Supercup title in 1999.  His endurace racing was highlighted by a win in GT3 at Le Mans. He was third at Daytona and took a win at Sebring. He did one round of the ALMS series, finishing 8th in a Porsche GT3R.

His fourth Supercup title came in 2000 and in 2001 he made the switch to Touring Cars, racing with Eschmann Stahl Team AMG Mercedes in the German DTM. He took one win and two podium finishes on his way to 6th in the Championship. In 2002 he stayed with the DTM now with CEB Team AMG Mercedes racing a 2001 spec car, he finished second of the older cars.

He was back in the Porsche Supercup in 2003 with Team DeWalt Racing and did one round of the DTM at Hockenheim finishing first amoungst the 2002 spec cars.

2004 saw him finish 5th in the Porsche Supercup as well as having an official test with the Minardi Formula 1 Team. Another season in the Porsche Supercup followed in 2005 finishing runner up.

2006 was disappointing with just one win in Budapest on his way to fourth in the Supercup standings.

In 2007 he joined Konrad Motorsport with the goal of claiming his fifth Supercup-title. He is also racing in the American Rolex Series in the Synergy Racing Porsche GT3 RSR. Driving with Richard Westbrook, Richard Lietz and Steve Johnson at daytona the eventually finishing eleventh in his class after encountering serious problems during the race. He plans two more races in America later in the year.



historicracing.com

<