The team
April 2008: 1000 km Barcelona, Spain
Hardy Schiller and Kai Kruse
Hardy Schiller is very experienced in motorcycle racing as well as Touring car racing. On two wheels he participated since 1983 in various German and international championships, in 2006 and 2007 he drove in the German long distance championship and the 24h of the Nürburgring.
Kai Kruse - Dipl.-Ing.(FH) - is a vehicle construction engineer, and has been in motorsport since 1988: Karts, slalom, 5 x 24h Nürburging and various touring car races. Since 1995 he's been on the technical side and has worked as mechanic, data engineer and chief race car engineer in the Porsche Supercup, DTM, Formula Renault and Formula 3. From 2004 to 2007 Kai was team manager and technical manager in the Le Mans Series.
Hideki Noda, Jonathan Kennard, Driver
Japanese national, born 07.03.1969 in Osaka, Japan. 1982-1986: various kart series in Japan; 1987: Japanese Formula Junior 1600; 1988: Japanese Formula 3; 1989: British Vauxhall Lotus championship and GM Opel Lotus Euroseries; 1990 and 1991: British Formula 3; 1992-1994: Formula 3000; 1994: 3 F1 Grand Prix races with Team Larrousse; 1995: Test driver Simtek F1 team; 1996-1997: Indy Lights series; 1998-2001: Formula Nippon, Japanese GT-Championship; 2002: 6 races in Indy Racing League; 2005: A1GP; 2006: A1GP, LMS and Super GT Japan GT500; 2007: Japanese Le Mans Challenge, overall winner in LMP1. For detailed information about him and his career please visit his official website www.hideki-noda.net or download his racing driver profile (PDF-file, 5 pages, 258 KB, in English).
Jean de Pourtales, Driver
French national, born 19.08.1965 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. 1995-1997: British Formula Vauxhall Junior, 1998: British Formula Renault; 1999: Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup, Italian Formula 3000, 2000: Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup, 2001: Euro 3000 Series, Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup, 2002-2004: Euro 3000 Series, 2005: 3000 Pro Series, 2006: F3000 Masters, 2007: LMS and 24h of Le Mans, Kruse Motorsport.
Alex Schiller, Mechanic
Motorbike race driver with a lot of success and experience. Involved in Motorsport since the beginning of the 1990s. First race in April 2000: 1000 km motorcycles at the Nürburgring, 2003: Suzuki GSX-R 1000 Cup.
Cedric Cartereau, Mechanic
Cedric joined the team in 2008 at Le Mans. He has significant motorsport experience in the LMS and the A1GP series
Andre Heidel, Mechanic
Many years of experience at the German long-distance championship at the Nürburgring (VLN), 2006 and 2007 VLN and LMS at Kruse Motorsport.
Gavin Wills, Race Engineer
Gavin started as a driver in single seaters, winning over 200 races, 8 championships and the Formula Ford Festival twice. He is also a team owner and race engineer and was involved in 21 championship wins with single seaters, GT cars, Nascar and sports cars. In the LMS he has engineered LMP 2 cars to 11 podium's, with 5 wins and a 2nd place in the 2008 Le Mans 24hr race. Gavin joined KSM in 2009.
Paul South , Data Engineer
Motorsport since 1983 in many different roles: driver (1983 and 1984 in Formula Ford), mechanic, team owner and engineer. As a team engineer Paul worked in the Spanish Formula 3, in the A1 Series, USA Formula Renault Winter Series, Dutch Formula Renault and British Formula 3 and many other series.
Frank Tröbs, Mechanic
Motorsport since 2001, e.g. as mechanic or chief mechanic with X-Raid BMW Rally, Radical, All-inkl. Racing, Team Abt Sportsline, joined KSM in June 2008
Mike Bitterlich, Mechanic
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