Yahoo Autos Proton’s positive charge in IMSA and the world
Proton Competition’s reach in the world of motorsports continues to expand. A longtime competitor in WEC GTE, and the team running WeatherTech Racing’s Mercedes AMG in GTD PRO in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Proton expanded to include the full schedule of European Le Mans Series in 2023, as well as adding Porsche 963s to both WEC HyperCar and the WeatherTech Championship GTP class mid-season.
“We’re doing it because we love motorsport,” explains Christian Ried, whose father Gerold started the team. “And when Porsche announced the LMDh program, two-and-a-half years ago, it was super interesting for us, especially knowing that the GT time will come to an end, unfortunately. So we said, ‘What is the option from the team side?’ Racing since 1996, and always doing more and more and growing.
“To be honest, only doing GT3 was not really an option coming from GTE. So we started the LMDh program. And yeah, also racing the GTD car [in IMSA]. And I was before in IMSA, and really enjoyed racing here and it’s such a great championship. So the best thing that can happen is running a car here in IMSA and WEC, for sure the top two championships in the world.”
The WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG, with full-season drivers Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella, has three victories this season, in the Rolex 24 at Daytona (with Maro Engel and Cooper MacNeil), at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the most recent round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The other races, though, have been more miss than hit, and the team sits third in the GTD PRO standings. With only two races run in GTP with Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell (plus two more in WEC), Proton, like fellow Porsche privateer JDC-Miller Motorsports, is still learning the car. But Ried expects to be able to challenge Porsche Penske Motorsport, which has three victories between its two cars so far in 2023, next season. In the meantime, he’s happy to have the opportunity.
Proton’s full-time GTD entry has won three times this season. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
“It’s great to have these cars for customers available. And I hope, also other manufacturers will do this soon. For sure it’s a big commitment from Porsche, running customer cars in the first season – which we’ve learned quite hard this year; everything is late and we’re always short on parts, but they’re doing the best they can. So far I have to say if you look at JDC, JOTA and us, privateers can run the car. It’s it’s not easy, but nobody expected this to be easy. So it’s great, for our team to learn and it’s just the next step,” says Ried.
Germany-based Proton has been a longtime competitor in European-based series, beginning with the FIA GT Championship, and a presence in WEC since the beginning. Despite occasional forays into American Le Mans Series races in the U.S., though, the team hadn’t had a regular presence in North America until WeatherTech owner David MacNeil tabbed the team to run the Porsche 911 RSR in the final season of GTLM. But since then it has stuck with IMSA, and found it appealing enough to bring its first 963 to America to compete in GTP.
Next year, however, the team’s long association with the GTE/GTLM category comes to an end as WEC joins IMSA in a GT3-based GT category. In WEC, Proton will become the first customer team for the new Ford Mustang GT3, with plans to field it for the full season, should the team be granted an entry in what is expected to be a very crowded, high-demand grid in the first season of LMGT3 – including at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Ried welcomes the opportunity, even as he laments the disappearance of the GTE category. As a driver, Ried has competed in every season of WEC since the series’ inception. However, he also noted he has no interest in racing a GT3 car. Perhaps his son, Jonas, will carry on the legacy on the driving side as he launches his own career. But as for the team’s ambitions in 2024 in WEC, its first full season in IMSA GTD PRO has given the team a preview of the challenge.
“We expected it will be tough. The level of the championship and the level of teams … it’s the best in the world and we’re fighting against manufacturers like Corvette and Lexus. For sure it’s not easy. We had a really great start with winning Daytona, we were a bit unlucky in Sebring – we should be also able to win that race – and we struggled a little bit on BoP. But we’ve got good drivers and we’re still fighting for the endurance championship, so we’ll keep pushing.”
Ried says he doesn’t know exactly what the IMSA program will look like next year, on either the GTD PRO side or GTP. While Bruni and Tincknell are campaigning both the WeatherTech Championship and WEC races (with Neel Jani) this season, conflicts next year make keeping the same driver lineup for both series an impossibility. But he plans to return, taking the lessons learned from 2023 to charge forward.
