Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger: 'we want to make something for the enthusiast'

It’s not often I’m disappointed by anything Andreas Preuninger says. His official job title is 'project manager GT vehicles' but you could also call him Godfather of all the Porsches you really, really want: GT3, GT3 RS, S/T, GT4 RS, Boxster Spyder RS, GT2 RS... you get the picture. He’s a dude.

And I love talking 911s or just cars generally with him. But when I ask about his dream ‘no rules forget emissions go crazy’ project, he stutters for a few moments and then basically says, “The S/T and the GT3 RS.” Not exactly a revelation... upon reflection, though, it’s the perfect answer. And the only one he could give.

Why? Well, the 911 in general and the motorsport division cars in particular are about relentless evolution. Incremental gains chased ruthlessly, the interrogation of every single detail to strive for perfection. This philosophy isn’t just born of all the challenges facing the teams engineering sports cars these days – noise and emissions legislation, for example. It’s intrinsic to the very DNA of the GT department cars and those who lovingly and diligently hone every dynamic facet. So, conceiving of something outside of this process for Preuninger is pointless.

Photography: Mark Riccioni

The answer reveals a fundamental truth about the man and the philosophy of the GT department: forget fantasyland, don’t lament ever tightening regulations and just get on with making the 911 formula as exciting, intense and enjoyable as possible. What could be more fun than an S/T and GT3 RS, respectively the latest and greatest road and track products developed under his watchful eye? Well, they haven’t figured that out yet.

Andreas didn’t ‘invent’ the GT3 model line, but he has probably shaped it more than any other individual. Although getting a foot in the door at Porsche wasn’t easy. “My dad worked at a supplier for Porsche and had a lot of contact with Weissach,” he remembers. “And so I first visited in the 1980s, I suppose. Immediately, that was it. I knew I wanted to work for Porsche at Weissach.”

After studying Automotive Engineering at University, a young, super keen Andreas applied for a job. And then another. And then another. “They turned me down,” he smirks. “I applied at least seven or eight times, each time with my CV presented in a different folder in RS colours. One was yellow, one was green, and so on...”

They turned me down. I applied at least seven or eight times

After a spell at a Spanish supplier, Preuninger got his break and an opportunity at Engineering Services. “Back then we used around 30 per cent of our engineering capacity for external OEM projects,” he recalls. “It was undercover, of course. But we did some cool stuff like the V-Rod engine for Harley-Davidson. I was responsible for projects with VW, Audi and SEAT.

"It was the perfect opportunity to get to know Weissach, because I’d have to work with every department and all sorts of talented individuals. Well, all except the one I really wanted to work with, which was Motorsport.”

Luckily for enthusiasts everywhere, Preuninger’s time would come. He applied for Porsche’s Sport Driving School, where engineers, sales and marketing staff would first learn to handle a car properly and then communicate it to clients in their own free time as instructors. “This brought me into contact with the 911s I wanted to drive,” beams Andreas. “In fact, it was the first 996 GT3. And I fell in love. Totally. The high revs, the low weight, this was something special.”

Crucially, Preuninger’s love wasn’t blind. “I knew I could make it better,” he says. A chance meeting with Hartmut Kristen (VP of sales and marketing and instrumental in the 996 GT3 project) at a birthday party gave him that opportunity. “I offered him some feedback on the car and he agreed I was on the right track. Unbelievably, he asked if I wanted to be the project manager on the second generation car, the 996 GT3 MkII.” You couldn’t make it up.

“I thought about it for a while,” he says with a grin, before revealing he didn’t play it that cool. “No, I said yes before he’d even finished his sentence. This was it. My dream made real.”

The ethos of continual improvement, high revving engines, low mass, highly responsive chassis and pushing to extremes has been a hallmark of the GT department ever since. For example, the first GT3 RS (once again the 996 generation) was really built to homologate a new suspension upright. The original plan was to simply build 200 GT3s with the required new part to improve the racecars. Effective, but nobody would have even realised.

Instead, Andreas suggested a much more radical path. An even lighter, more aggressive and more track focused model to really test the market for a racecar for the road. The marketing department said it would be a sales disaster, but instead it created a whole new market that Porsche could own. Over 20 years later they still do.

Even we didn't realise how lucky we were

Even a brief chat is enough to realise the irrepressible enthusiasm of that young guy at the birthday party still lives within Andreas Preuninger. His life is certainly more complex than it was in those early years. “The freedom was complete, really,” he explains. “Even we didn’t realise how lucky we were. Small teams of maybe 15 or 20, pretty much working in the shadows.” But even as the complexity and responsibility has increased exponentially, the same passion and attention to detail informs every decision for the next model to emerge from the GT department.

“The core philosophy is always to use all the available technology to make a car that makes you smile in the first instance. That is job one,” says Preuninger. “Sure, we have heavy competition, sure we want to beat the rest, we want to be quicker around the ’Ring. That’s a given. But much more than that, we want to make something that is for the enthusiast that enjoys driving for the sake of driving. That goes for an S/T, a Spyder RS or a GT3 RS. They each change the parameters of the final product but they are linked by pure enjoyment.”

It’s this clarity of thinking, a relentless energy to improve and innovate and an ability to harness the deep talent within Weissach and unleash it on perfectly conceived projects that propels the GT department to ever greater heights. What makes Porsche’s GT model line the eternal benchmark.

And it's why Andreas Preuninger deserves the Top Gear Lifetime Achievement award. Although we’re pretty certain he’s not done yet...

Andreas Preuninger’s Greatest Hits

Jethro picks the man’s best work

996 GT3 RS 

2003 – 2004

997 GT3 RS 4.0 

2011

997 GT2 RS 

2010 – 2011

911 R

2016

991 GT2 RS 

2018 – 2019