Emely de Heus makes Porsche Carrera Cup Germany debut in Imola

“[Gap] is getting closer, but it's still not where I want to be" – Despite the results not fully reflecting her performance, Emely de Heus' debut in the ultra-competitive Porsche Carrera Cup Germany showed some positives in Imola, as the Dutch racer, stepping up from single seaters, showed progress over the weekend.

Photo credits: Porsche AG

Despite the results not fully reflecting her performance, Emely de Heus' debut in the ultra-competitive Porsche Carrera Cup Germany had many positives. The Dutch racer, stepping up from single seaters, showed great progress over the weekend at Imola: she was involved in close battles, made up positions in race 1, and notably reduced the gap to the front-runners in a commendable effort.

The opening round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany took place at the iconic Imola circuit in Italy, supporting the FIA World Endurance Championship. Thirty-two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars lined up for the start of the 2025 Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland season.

With Emely de Heus joining ID Racing, a female driver returned to the German Porsche one-make cup for the first time in over a decade—with Michelle Gatting being the last in 2014. De Heus is contesting her first full season in GT racing, having recently transitioned from single seaters, most notably F1 Academy.

Emely began her single-seater career in 2021 in Spanish F4, where she claimed the female trophy title and a top-10 finish. She stepped up to W Series in 2022, scoring points on her debut, then joined MP Motorsport for the inaugural F1 Academy season in 2023, where she secured her first pole position and race win. In 2024, under the Ford Red Bull banner, she continued in F1 Academy, scoring points in seven races despite a more challenging campaign. With F1 Academy's two-year eligibility limit, De Heus shifted to GT racing, impressing on her GT4 debut at the 24 Hours of Dubai.

Now 21, De Heus embarks on a full season in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany with ID Racing—representing a significant step in her career. While it presents a steep learning curve, the season will be pivotal in laying the foundations for a successful future in sports cars.

During pre-season testing, she already showed steady improvement, consistently closing the gap to the leaders—also a key objective for the opening round at Imola, part of the 6 Hours of Imola weekend.

Emely is one of seven rookies in a highly competitive 32-car field, featuring some of the world’s fastest drivers in the Porsche 992 Cup platform.

In Friday’s free practice, she set a 1:45.426 lap, placing her bright green and yellow #44 Porsche in P28, with much of the field separated by mere thousandths of a second. Later in the day, in qualifying, she recorded a 1:45.988 in Q1, putting her 30th, then improved to 1:45.508 in Q2—less than three seconds from pole-sitter Robert De Haan, who dominated the sessions.

“It's something totally new for me. To be honest, it was pretty hard to adapt”, De Heus commented.

“I had some test days but it was way colder conditions and it was wet. So now the track was way hotter", she explained. "So I think I need to learn way more to adapt quicker to it.”

"There's a lot of work to do, but it makes me also excited and more motivated.”

On Saturday afternoon, as the sun began to set over the circuit, the first race of the season got underway. De Heus lined up P27. At the start, she was boxed in through the opening corners, dropped to P29, and had a brief off at Variante Alta, completing the first lap in P31, ahead of Michael Schrey.

She however soon began gaining positions. A crash involving Daniel Ros and Kiano Blum at Rivazza 1 brought out the safety car, and Soren Spreng retired with damage. Emely moved up to P28 under caution. After the restart on lap 4, she gained another position to P27, staying close to Jonas Greif and gradually pulling away from Michael Schrey.

Greif overtook Wilmer Wallenstam, and Emely chased down the Swedish driver, making a move on lap 8 to take P26 and 6th among rookies. From there, she improved her pace, dipping under 1:46 and closing in on Shahin, as she was lapping nearly a second faster than on lap 12. She set a personal best of 1:45.986 and continued to gain ground.

When Tuccaroglu spun at Tamburello, a second safety car was deployed. Emely moved up to P25 with four minutes to go. On the final lap, she overtook Shahin for P24 and nearly caught Al Shehab, ultimately crossing the line in P24 in her first Porsche Carrera Cup Germany race.

Robert De Haan claimed a lights-to-flag win, followed by Oeverhaus, while Ghiretti edged Tauscher by two-hundredths of a second for third. Unfortunately, Emely was disqualified post-race, but her performance still stood out: a solid drive with great racecraft and overtakes in one of the most competitive fields in GT racing.

Sunday morning saw the second and final race of the weekend. De Heus aimed to bounce back from the disappointment of race 1, focusing on the positives. Starting from P30, she briefly dropped to P31 at the start but followed Samer Shahin in the GP Elite car closely in a tight mid-pack battle.

Emely passed Shahin on lap 2 to reclaim P30 and soon closed in on fellow rookie Wallenstam. She was clearly quicker and running consistent 1:46.7s. Continuing to improve, she dipped below the 1:46 barrier with a 1:45.931 on lap 7—just before the first safety car, triggered by Daniel Gregor’s off at Piratella with 12 minutes to go.

Now in P29, Emely had a shot at more positions after the restart. However, soon after going green, AlKhoori went off, prompting another neutralization.

De Heus restarted in 29th with seven minutes remaining but now had Shahin and AlKhoori behind her. Both got past on lap 13, followed by Spreng. Emely kept pushing and closed the gap again in the closing laps but ultimately crossed the line in P31.

While race 2 proved more difficult, the young Dutch driver will aim to build on the encouraging signs from her debut weekend. She returns to the track on 8–10 May for Round 2 at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.

“[Gap] is getting closer, but it's still not where I want to be, but I think if we work hard and I watch the data with my engineer and also my teammates, it really helps me. So I think we can improve a lot.”