Konrad Motorsport was the top team in the 2025 Prototype Cup Germany. Led by Franz Konrad, the team not only won the Drivers’ Championship with Danny Soufi (22/USA) and Pavel Lefterov (27/BUL), but also clinched the title in the Team competition together with Zino-Ferret Fahlke (18/Hergiswil) in the second Konrad car.
“Both titles mean a lot to me. Last year, we narrowly missed out on being crowned champions. This time, we put everything into winning the Drivers’ Championship and then also the Team title,” said team principal Franz Konrad. “In the Team competition, we came out on top by two points against Mücke Motorsport, who had two damned strong duos. We only had one car at three of the six race weekends, but our third driver Zino-Ferret Fahlke was also very impressive at the other three weekends. I am very proud of my whole team.”
Konrad Motorsport is a team steeped in tradition. “The team is now more than 50 years old,” says Konrad. “When I finished studying as a car mechanic at the age of 18, I moved from Austria to Germany. A few years later, I started to compete in hillclimbs and car slaloms. I then founded my team in 1972.” However, even back then Konrad had far loftier ambitions: “I wanted to be a professional racing driver. I made it as far as Formula 2 with my own crew, but did not have the money required to go any further. Shortly after that, I received an offer to race in Group C.” Even when Franz Konrad was plying his trade as a professional with other outfits, Konrad Motorsport continued to exist. “At times we actually had situations when I raced against my own team. However, because I was earning money as a driver, I was able to develop my own team, which at the time was mostly reliant on pay drivers for financial reasons.”
Over the course of many years and decades, Konrad Motorsport matured into a successful name in motor racing, with triumphs in Formula, prototype and GT racing. With Franz Konrad as a driver, they took their place in the list of German Formula 3 champions in 1983, were victorious at the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 1993, and celebrated various titles in Porsche one-make cups from 2008 – to name but a few successes. Another trademark was often the technical challenge, which qualified car mechanic Konrad continued to seek out as team principal. “That started in Formula 3, when I opted for an Anson chassis. There were only a very few editions that car, which was built by eventual Jordan F1 designer Gary Anderson. And I won the German championship with that rare chassis. Then I ran an American Saleen for a few years in GT series. Hardly anyone in Europe had heard of that car before then. Plus, we lined up with a Lola chassis at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1999 and 2000, under the banner “Racing for Holland”. At times, we were keeping pace with the Audis, which were dominant during that period, but unfortunately we never reached the finish.”
Even when he decided to join the Prototype Cup Germany in its inaugural season in 2022 (“Racing prototypes have always been my favourites.”), he took on another technical challenge and ordered a Ginetta. However, that design struggled against the Ligier and Duqueine, resulting in Konrad switching to Ligier in 2024. In that year, Konrad Motorsport narrowly missed out on the Drivers title with Soufi and Torsten Kratz behind the wheel. One year later, now with Soufi and Lefterov in the cockpit, they wrapped up the title with the finale still to come. The Team competition was a far closer affair. In the end, Soufi, Lefterov and Fahlke helped Konrad Motorsport to the title, narrowly defeating BWT Mücke Motorsport by just two points.
