Sascha Maassen

Sascha Maassen (born 28 September 1969 in Aachen, Germany) is a veteran sports car driver.

Early career Maassen began his career in karts, and moved to cars in 1989, in Formula Ford 1600. During the early 1990s, he raced in the German Formula 3 series. His F3 career includes a win at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix in 1994. From 1995 to 1997, he raced touring cars for Nissan in the Super Tourenwagen Cup.

Sports car career In 1998, Maassen moved to the FIA GT Championship, where he raced a Porsche 911 GT2 for Roock Racing, along with Bruno Eichmann. In 1999, he competed in Porsche Supercup. He also drove for Alex Job Racing at Petit Le Mans, where he won the GT class with Cort Wagner and Dirk Müller.

2000 In 2000, Maassen joined Porsche as a factory driver. His primary job was driving a Porsche GT3-R in the American Le Mans Series. He partnered with fellow factory driver Bob Wollek at Dick Barbour Racing. The duo would win five races, including Maassen's second straight Petit Le Mans victory. He also finished second in the GT class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving for Skea Racing International. Maassen also raced sparingly in Supercup, and raced in the 24 Hours Nürburgring, and one race in the Sports Racing World Cup.

2001 In 2001, Maassen was paired with Lucas Luhr at Alex Job Racing. They would win at Texas and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the GT class in a season otherwise dominated by the BMW M3 GTRs. Maassen also raced prototypes, at the 24 Hours of Daytona for Champion Racing, and for Dick Barbour Racing at Le Mans.

2002 Maassen started 2002 by finishing fourth at the 24 Hours of Daytona for Champion Racing. Maassen and Luhr dominated the GT class of the ALMS, winning seven of ten races en route to the championship. These victories included second straight Sebring win, and third career Petit Le Mans win.

2003 2003 saw Maassen and Luhr win the championship again, and win Sebring for the third year in a row. Maassen also notched his 20th class win in the ALMS at Miami. He also won the Grand-Am round at Circuit Mont-Tremblant in a Brumos Racing Fabcar-Porsche.

2004 & 2005 In 2004, Maassen acted mainly as a third driver for the longer endurance races, winning at Sebring and Petit Le Mans for Alex Job, and winning the GT class at Le Mans with Petersen Motorsports. 2005 saw him focus mainly on the development of the new Porsche RS Spyder, including racing in the car's debut at Laguna Seca.

2006 In 2006, Maassen would race the RS Spyder and win the LMP2 championship with Lucas Luhr. Maassen and Luhr would drive together for the first six races of the season, including one win (at Miller Motorsports Park) and an overall 2nd place (at Mid-Ohio). Maassen the partnered with Timo Bernhard for the remainder of the season, collecting two wins.

2007 Maassen continued driving for Penske in the ALMS.

2008 Maassen continued driving for Penske in the ALMS, and competed in the 2008 edition of 24 hour Le Mans with Team Essex where he finished second in the LMP2 class together with John Nielsen and Casper Elgaard.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Skea Racing International Johnny Mowlem David Murry Porsche 911 GT3-R GT 304 17th 2nd Dick Barbour Racing Didier de Radiguès Hideshi Matsuda Reynard 01Q-LM-Judd LMP675 95 DNF DNF Freisinger Motorsport Romain Dumas Jörg Bergmeister Porsche 911 GT3-RS GT 321 17th 2nd Alex Job Racing Petersen Motorsports Emmanuel Collard Lucas Luhr Porsche 911 GT3-RS GT 320 14th 1st White Lightning Racing Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Porsche 911 GT3-RS GT 327 10th 1st Team Essex Casper Elgaard John Nielsen Porsche RS Spyder Evo LMP2 347 12th 2nd Navi Team Goh Seiji Ara Keisuke Kunimoto Porsche RS Spyder Evo LMP2 339 DNF DNF

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 1995 Nissan Primera Racing Nissan Primera ZOL1 ZOL2 SPA1 SPA2 ÖST1 ÖST2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SAL1 SAL2 AVU1 AVU2 NÜR1 NÜR2 14th 128 1996 Nissan Primera Racing Nissan Primera ZOL1 ZOL2 ASS1 ASS2 HOC1 HOC2 SAC1 SAC2 WUN1 WUN2 ZWE1 ZWE2 SAL1 SAL2 AVU1 AVU2 NÜR1 NÜR2 17th 165 1997 Nissan Primera Racing Nissan Primera HOC1 HOC2 ZOL1 ZOL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SAC1 SAC2 NOR1 NOR2 WUN1 WUN2 ZWE1 ZWE2 SAL1 SAL2 REG1 REG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 10th 263

Accolades ALMS GT class champion: 2002, 2003 ALMS LMP2 class champion: 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans GT class winner: 2003, 2004 12 Hours of Sebring GT class winner: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 FIA GT Championship NGT Class Champion (with Lucas Luhr): 2004 Petit Le Mans LMP2 class winner: 2006 Petit Le Mans GT class winner: 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 Macau Grand Prix winner: 1994