Gianmaria Bruni (ITA) / Harry Tincknell (GBR) / Neel Jani (SUI) #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963. 07.07.2023. FIA World Endurance Championship, Rd 5, Six Hours Of Monza, Monza, Italy. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] © Copyright: Moy / XPB Images
Proton Competition will debut in the GTP category for the IMSA WeatherTech round at Road America, as part of 46 total entries for the race on 6 August.
The provisional entry list for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend is headlined by 10 GTP entries.
Proton Competition, who debuted their Porsche 963 LMDh at the WEC 6 Hours of Monza, will now enter another in the eighth IMSA race of 2023.
Harry Tinckell and Gianmaria Bruni will drive the Porsche at Road America, building on existing WEC Hypercar experience at Monza where Neel Jani joined them.
The team will compete against three existing Porsche 963s in the championship, two run by the Penske Porsche partnership and another by a fellow privateer JDC Miller MotorSports.
#5: JDC Miller MotorSports, Porsche 963, GTP: Tijmen van der Helm, Mike Rockenfeller, #9: Pfaff Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), GTD PRO: Klaus Bachler, Patrick Pilet – Copyright: Richard Dole
Rivals include the regulars like BMW RLL with two M Hybrid V8s, Acura with Konica Minolta and Meyer Shank Racing, and Cadillac represented with their V Series.R machines.
The #25 BMW duo of Connor de Phillippi and Nick Yelloly gained their first GTP win at the 6 Hours of the Glen after Nick Tandy and Matthieu Jaminet were provisional winners but were subsequently disqualified.
In the LMP2 class, seven entries will utilise the widely-favoured Oreca 07-Gibson package.
Tower Motorsports are yet to confirm their second driver, who will partner the Louis Deletraz in the #8 car.
The #4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca took a class victory at the Glen after a close fight to the finish with the #18 Era Motorsport outfit in a close second place.
Road America will have all cars driven by two drivers each, which will mean their endurance drivers Christian Rasmussen (#18) and Nolen Siegal (#4) will not be driving in this sprint round.
Other LMP2s include the #11 TDS Racing duo of Steven Thomas and Peugeot Hypercar driver Mikkel Jensen, their sister #35 car with John Falb and Giedo van der Garde, followed by the #20 High Class Racing entry with Dennis Anderson and Ed Jones co-piloting.
The #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports duo of Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin complete the class.
Across the eight LMP3 runners, there is a mix of machinery of either the Ligier JS P320 or Duqueine N08.
Jr III Racing announced earlier today they will bring a second #30 Ligier to join their existing #29 which will be driven by Bijoy Garg and Lindus Lundqvist.
JDC Miller MotorSports, who also run the #6 Porsche 963 in GTP, have Gerry Kraut and Scott Andrews driving the #85 Duqueine D08.
Others in the class include Sean Creech Motorsport with their #33 Ligier, Riley’s #74, AWA’s two Duqueines, and the #4 Ave Motorsports Ligier.
Five entries front the GTD-Pro category, representing five different manufacturers which recently competed at Lime Rock Park with the other GTDs.
#23: Heart of Racing Team, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, GTD PRO: Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas, #27: Heart of Racing Team, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, GTD: Roman De Angelis, Marco Sorensen, and Ian James – Credit: LAT Images / Copyright:© 2023 Richard Dole
Heart of Racing grasped both class wins at Lime Rock Park, their #23 duo of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas achieving the feat in GTD-Pro whilst the #27 sibling Aston Martin Vantage GT3 won in the hands of Roman De Angelis and Marco Sorensen.
Other GTD-Pros include the likes of Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor who demonstrated potential at Lime Rock, Pfaff Motorsports with their Porsche 911 GT3 R, Vasser Sullivan’s #14 Lexus RC F GT3, and the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
In GTD, 16 entries differ from the 15 at Lime Rock as Racers Edge Motorsport bring their #93 Acura NSX GT3, the second on the grid with Gradient Racing’s Acura.
Mario Farnbacher and Ashton Harrison will drive the #93 next week.
Turner Motorsport will bring two BMW M4 GT3s as Kellymoss with Riley will use two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs during the Road America event.
Their rivals include: The #1 Paul Miller Racing and the #94 Andretti Autosport Astons, the other #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports and #57 Windward Racing Mercedes-AMGs, the #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3, and the #78 Forte Racing outfit who will field the sole Lamborghini.
The IMSA SportsCar Weekend is set to commence on 6 August at 11am CET.
Keyword: Proton Competition set for GTP debut at Road America amidst 46 entries