Proton Competition plans to expand its World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship activities with the addition of the Porsche 963 LMDh because the German manufacturer makes more cars available to customers.
Christian Ried, the boss of the German team, which currently fields one 963 automobile in each series, has revealed that he’s working on plans to extend the team’s presence within the Hypercar and GTP classes of each championships.
“It’s always better to run two cars than one,” he said. “It makes sense, but first we need customers and sponsors.”
Asked if he was specifically considering WEC or IMSA as a two-car program, Ried replied: “Both.”
Ried, whose WEC and IMSA starts with the 963 are set to start in mid-2023, added that a choice may very well be made “in the next few weeks or so”.
Proton’s plans follow Porsche’s announcement that it’s once more capable of produce and support larger numbers of 963 models after temporarily halting production of customer cars late last yr.
Urs Kuratle, head of the 963 programme at Porsche Motorsport, revealed that talks are ongoing with teams keen on fielding the automobile in each WEC and IMSA.
“Chassis is available, parts are available, and then there’s demand,” he said. “We’re talking to other customers: If the situation requires us to sell more, we’ll sell more.”
#5 Porsche 963 Proton Competition: Gianmaria Bruni, Bent Viscaal
Photo: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsports images
He confirmed that the departure of the Jota team from Porsche's customer base to take over Cadillac's WEC programme, a choice that has not yet been officially announced, will liberate capability to service latest privately-owned 963 models.
Kuratle emphasized the importance of the client program within the progress made by the 963 this season. “We’ve made a lot of progress in reliability, and that’s also thanks to all the miles we can do with the customers,” he explained.
Asked whether replacing Jota in Porsche’s customer line-up in 2025 could be a perfect scenario, he suggested there have been “a few ideal scenarios”.
It is unclear whether there can be room within the WEC for a further Porsche run by Proton or one other team.
The expansion of the sector to 40 cars for 2025 means 22 cars will have the ability to begin within the Hypercar class, up from 19 this yr.
Two of the spots can be taken up by Aston Martin, which can enter the highest category with its Valkyrie AMR-LMH, while Cadillac and Lamborghini can even must double their efforts as a result of a brand new rule that requires factory teams to field a pair of cars.
If Isotta Fraschini had remained within the series – and subsequently entered two Tipo 6 LMH Competiziones as per the regulations – there would have been no room for an additional privateer Porsche.
IMSA would welcome additional cars within the GTP division, although the series is already fully booked for this yr.
Series boss John Doonan said last month that additional GTP cars would “be welcomed with open arms”, while expressing hope that other manufacturers would join Porsche in supplying privateer teams.
Porsche customers Proton and JDC-Miller Motorsports are currently the one independent firms within the GTP.
