"It's about time to make something new"

After expanding to Sepang as the season opener earlier this year, Porsche Sprint Challenge (PSCI) looks forward to returning to the familiar Mandalika International Circuit for the fourth to sixth round of the 2025 season.

Hairpin Media caught up with Bagoes Hermanto, the CEO of Superstars Motorsport, the organisers of PSCI to discuss the conceptualization, impact, and growth of the series and on Indonesian Motorsports at large. 

The return of a familiar face

Hermanto is no stranger to the Indonesian motorsport scene. He formerly raced in the Asian Formula 2000 in 1997 and Asian Formula 3. After his racing career, he served as the team principal of the Indonesian A1GP team from 2007 to 2009.

From then on, he decided to focus on his other ventures before returning to motorsport when he was asked to assist with the 2022 Jakarta E-Prix project.

“I brought myself back into the motorsport scene by accident.

“It's been a long period of, well, I would say like a vacuum because I had focused more on my personal business.

“But in 2022, Formula E came to Jakarta, and I was asked to help the project, and then, yeah, it was a successful event at that time.”

Around the same time as Formula E, another major world championship also made its Indonesian debut at the Mandalika circuit, giving Hermanto a chance to experience a premier motorcycling event at a race track which posed the opportunity for more racing. 

“I'm very happy that Indonesia has a new track and is hosting a world championship event like MotoGP.

“At that time, the focus for the track was for motorcycles. I personally came from car racing because I started my racing career as a karting driver and then went all the way up to junior formula, so my passion is not motorcycles but more for racing cars.

“I was thinking, ‘Why doesn't this track also host car racing?’ The government already spent a lot of money and built such a nice track, so I think it's an opportunity to have cars racing there.”

Pioneering a new era

In Indonesia, motorsport is not well-known compared to other sports such as football and badminton, which has led to it becoming stagnant over the last 15 years.

Hermanto recalled how his son expressed disappointment watching vintage car racing in Sentul. From that point, Hermanto was determined to bring modern car racing to Indonesia. 

“I've been approaching European and also the Japanese manufacturers, and we ended up discussing this opportunity in detail with Porsche, the leading manufacturer in terms of customer racing, if you compare it to any other brand.”

While both sides were keen to expand to a new market, the discussion nearly took a year to finish. After the license agreement was signed, Hermanto and PR officer Dennis Kadaruskan travelled to Stuttgart for formalities.

“My vision is to bring a new championship with new technology, with the latest and proper race car, and a proper championship. We launched our first series or season in Mandalika back in 2023.”

Hermanto recalled that the motorsport scene was virtually the same as it had been years ago, with no proper car racing on circuits. He believed his vision for PSCI could be a beacon for Indonesian motorsport.

“When I look at it in 2022, I said there's no big improvement, especially the car racing in circuits.

“I'm not talking about like rallying or motorcycle, I'm talking about the national championship in Indonesia. It's pretty much like nothing's moved since I maybe left the motorsport scene back in maybe like 15, 20 years ago.

“It's about time to make something new. Our neighbour, Thailand, for example, is far ahead of us, and Malaysia also, since they have Sepang, their motorsport industry is also way ahead of us. We have to do something here to at least catch up with these two countries in the region.”

Being a pioneer of car racing on a track built for motorcycles comes with its own set of challenges, but that is the nature of the sport.

“When I arrived in Mandalika, I had a plan in mind and tried to execute it one by one to get a milestone completed.

“I have to find a solution for each challenge, managing drivers’ expectations. Since it's a new track for car racing, we also have to train them and the local people.”

Situated on the southern side of Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, Mandalika presented a difficult logistical challenge, being far away from the capital Jakarta and less developed than its popular neighbour, Bali.

“It's a challenge to operate on a remote island like Lombok because in motorsport, we need a lot of good access in terms of logistic costs, flights and everything, so I think that's the main challenge for us.”

Turning Mandalika into the nation’s go-to spot for sports tourism required many stakeholders to turn this dream into a reality. But the aim was clear: 

“We have to work together to make Mandalika a successful sport tourism destination.

“Everything has to be connected, and each stakeholder has their own role. For example, International connection flights need to be more frequent and other processes need to be more simplified.”

A stepping stone for the younger generation

Since its inaugural season, young drivers have signed up for PSCI, including current championship leader Daffa Budiharjo. Hermanto hoped PSCI could be a platform young drivers can use to advance their racing careers.

“Obviously, since day one, we have had some young drivers join our championship, for example, like Daffa, he was quite young at that time, I think 16 years old.

“We have plenty of young drivers who started their career from karting in Indonesia. I think PSCI can be their stepping stone, a platform that they can use to step up into the international series, like Carrera Cup or any other international series.”

Many Indonesian drivers begin their careers in karting, with some even competing on an international level. Unfortunately, after karting, many of them struggle to advance their careers. This is because most drivers are exclusively focused on single-seater racing series paths like Formula 4 and Formula 3, which are often difficult to access.

This is where PSCI provides a crucial alternative. Hermanto's vision is to provide a viable platform and a new career path for young drivers, allowing them to make the crucial step from karting to GT and endurance racing.

“But realistically, now if you look at other opportunities in the pinnacle of motorsport, it’s not only Formula 1 but also GT racing.

“PSCI allows young Indonesian drivers to focus on this new path by becoming a stepping stone for them to go into the next stage of GT or endurance racing.”

Hermanto wants PSCI to position itself as an entry for young professionals seeking a career in motorsport beyond the fancies of single seaters by creating a platform which fosters a whole ecosystem of not just drivers, but Indonesians in marketing, management, engineering etc. 

The next part of the story

After expanding internationally to Malaysia earlier, Hermanto reflected on the success and considered turning PSCI into a regional series rather than focusing only on the Indonesian market.

“Based on our experience this year, we want to transform this platform into a regional platform rather than focusing only on the Indonesian market.

“In the future, we may visit Sepang again or other circuits in the region, which I think would be positive for Indonesian drivers because they have a variation of the circuit.

“We want to add more circuits in the region as the future picture of PSCI, and we would like to attract regional or international drivers as well, so that the Indonesian driver can also compete with them to level up the competition.”

PSCI organisers continue to collaborate closely with Porsche in Germany and Porsche Motorsport Asia-Pacific to help the series grow and become one of the strongest championships of the Southeast Asia region.

“Hopefully, through this platform, PSCI can also grow in Southeast Asia; that's the objective for the next five years as we attract more drivers, more teams to become one of the strongest championships in the region. I think that's the vision for the next five years.”

As PSCI continues to grow its presence both in Indonesia and across the region, fans will have a front-row seat to the rise of a new era for motorsport. Keep an eye on this exciting series as it works to put Indonesia on the global racing map.