#porsche proton

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Cars on track during WEC's 2024 Prologue in Qatar at Losail International Circuit by François Flamand / DPPI / Michelin

[nick-cassidy]

so what . is Nico müller a porsche driver now

[sixcylinderdean]

Proton Competition Porsche 963, 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain [x]

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A Mustang Simpling Racing volta ao IMSA em acordo com a Proton

A Mustang Simpling Racing fara seu retorno ao IMSA após uma ausência na temporada de 2023, em acordo com a Proton Competition com o Porsche que  na última temporada era o Porsche #59 que tinha o patrocinador Wheatertech Racing.

A equipe já teve acordos com a Action Express Racing nos de 2015-2019 , quando corria antes com Corvette e Cadillac, e 2020-2022 com a JDC Miller Motorsports com Cadillac na era DPI, e um dos pilotos da equipe quando tinha o acordo com Action Express , era o Christian Fittipaldi.

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A post shared by Le Mans Hypercar News | Daniel🇩🇪 (@lemanshypercarnews)

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N. Jani / H. Tincknell / J. Andlauer (Porsche 963 / Proton Competition) by S. Le Bozec Via Flickr: 24 Heures du Mans 2024

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The European Le Mans Series inaugurates the 2023 season with the N°16 Porsche 911 RSR (19) winning the Four Hours of Barcelona ES LMGTE class for Proton Competition.

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IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Round 1, Daytona (USA)

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  @EuropeanLMS·  @ProtonRacing  #ELMS #4HBarcelona

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[dailywec]

Sunset during WEC's 2024 1812KM Qatar at Losail International Circuit (02.03.23) by Frédéric Le Floc'h / DPPI / Michelin

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What speaks for a Le Mans start?

Sebastian Vettel could compete in Le Mans with Porsche as early as 2024. The former Formula 1 world champion impressed in the first test. There are increasing signs of a racing comeback for the German. Porsche has postponed the planned announcement of the driver pairing of the third car for Le Mans.

Sebastian Vettel was abstinent for fifteen months. Apart from a few demonstration laps in a Williams FW14B at Silverstone and a Red Bull RB7 at the Nürburgring, the four-time world champion stayed away from the race track, but the thoroughbred racing driver regularly admitted that he misses racing. That's why his name was mentioned again and again when an attractive door opened-or seemed to open-in Formula 1, just like at Mercedes next year. The transfer of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari frees up a cockpit at Mercedes, and of course Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and Vettel were already in contact. The Heppenheimer also has his eye on the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with Porsche. On March 21st, Vettel took part in the roll-out test of the third Le Mans car in Weissach. The 36-year-old shared the cockpit with Porsche works driver Laurens Vanthoor. The Belgian drove two stints of twenty laps each, after which Vettel took over the Porsche hypercar for several runs between ten and fifteen laps.

Vettel fast straight away

According to information from our sister magazine, Motorsport aktuell, Vettel was on the same lap time level as Vanthoor after just fifteen laps. First conclusion: Vettel was immediately competitive at raw speed, and he also impressed with good feedback. The second stage of the test plan was then initiated: Vettel and five other works drivers will take part in a 36-hour test at the Spanish Motorland Aragón racetrack from March 25th to 27th, which was planned as preparation for Le Mans. The test is intended to evaluate how the 53-time GP winner copes with the 700 hp LMDh car in the dark. Vettel wants to use the test to find out whether the LMDh class cars will rekindle the fire in him. With a curb weight of 1,030 kilograms, the hybrid racers are significantly heavier than a Formula 1 car and have less power, but with hybrid technology and biofuel, they fit into the green world view of the man in the cockpit. The first impression behind the wheel of the Porsche 963 already left a clear mark on the thoroughbred racing driver from Heppenheim: "I'm looking forward to testing the Porsche and have already had the opportunity to get to know the car a little in Weissach. I've always had other racing series, and my curiosity for long distances encouraged me to just give it a try. Now I'm excited about the endurance run in Aragón and am looking forward to my time behind the wheel. It will definitely take some adjustment and some getting used to, but the whole team is very open and helps me with that. We'll see what happens next. At the moment there are no further plans for the future."

Porsche postpones driver announcement

After that, at the latest, a decision must be made as to whether Vettel will be included in Porsche's Le Mans squad. The Penske team will compete at Le Mans in 2024 with three cars: the two WEC cars plus an additional 963, which so far only has Mathieu Jaminet named. The original plan was for Jaminet to share the Porsche with Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy. The trio should have been confirmed this week on Thursday, March 28, but that announcement was postponed. This suggests that there is a real chance that Vettel could still jump on the Le Mans bandwagon. The Heppenheimer is still keeping the ball low: "We'll see how things continue. At the moment there are no further plans for the future." Theoretically, it would be possible for Vettel to contest one of the two World Championship races in Imola or Spa, although not with the works cars, but with the two customer teams, Proton Competition or Jota Hertz Racing. Vettel would obviously like to drive a test race because this is the only way to optimally prepare for a race at Le Mans. As expected, there is no doubt about Vettel in terms of driving, but a test race would allow him to get a feel for the demanding traffic situation in endurance racing, where the fast hypercar top cars share the track with the much slower GT3 cars.

Further Porsche tests possible

Because of the great competition in the field, the sports prototypes are now the second most attractive racing series in the world. In Aragon, Vettel also gets to know the competition straight away. It's not just Porsche that is preparing for Le Mans. Alpine with Mick Schumacher has also registered on the Spanish route. If everything goes well, Vettel could complete a third test soon: Porsche will drive in Spa on April 5th and 6th, and there is also the possibility of another 36-hour test on April 10th and 11th at the French track Le Castellet, even if Porsche has not yet officially registered for the test. The decision on a Le Mans start must be made by mid-April at the latest. The Porsche board is said to be enthusiastic about the idea of ​​Vettel driving with Porsche at Le Mans as early as 2024.

Porsche against seven manufacturers

The Stuttgart team won the first race of the season in Qatar with the 963. The WEC is enjoying particular attention this year because eight manufacturers are represented: Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota, Peugeot, BMW, Cadillac, Alpine and Lamborghini. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is even more than usual one of the big motorsport highlights of the year. Another large car company, Aston Martin, is expected to join in 2025. There are persistent rumors about a McLaren entry. For Porsche, Vettel's testing is a prestigious experience. The example of Alonso at Toyota and Hülkenberg at Porsche shows what advertising value the deployment of a Formula 1 driver on foreign terrain can have. Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport, is pleased that the former champion is showing interest in Porsche's long-distance activities: "There was no question for us that we would be happy to support his request for a test opportunity and provide him with extensive preparation and sufficient time. We can certainly learn a lot from his valuable feedback. Our 36-hour endurance run with our factory drivers in Motorland Aragón offers a perfect environment for this."

[yaolukexi]

Just found out that Porsche dropped Gimmi Bruni and Neel Jani……

Gimmi has a special place in my heart as he used to be an Italian Ferrari driver but somehow he just parted way with them and became a Porsche lad. The opposite one is Ye Yifei, I hope he can be a Porsche boy like Julien or Laurin but he finally ended up in AF Corse ☹️

Neel Jani……I would like to say it is fair enough to drop him because of his performance these years (he is super slow this year according to my pace ranking). However he still deserves to be a part of Porsche (not sure if they count him as a “Proton” guy so they removed him from the works driver lineup)

And the surprise——Romain Dumas. I thought he retired several years ago but?? He is a 47 YEARS OLD PORSCHE WORKS DRIVER!! 👏 Amazing stuff

[l1veleak]

👂would u like to elaborate on the jota caddy stuff

you’re ASKING me if i want to elaborate on my theories…..

i love silly season. god himself has revealed to me that Pipo Derani might move to wec. walk with me for a moment. back in june (i think) he said he’s leaving axr, NOT cadillac. so that would mean that he would be going to WTR Andretti (they’ll likely also switch to Cadillac i *think*. again my theories) or Jota. now,,a move to WTR is unrealistic because idk if u are familiar with this lore but he’s spent the last five years terrorising both Taylor brothers (who for the record do NOT like him and neither does Filipe tbh 😭😭 but i digress….) so that’s not happening. and that leaves us with jota. and well. i won’t say i’m always spot on with predictions and theories because i’m insane and talk out of my ass. but i think the only lineup that might possibly stay intact is the 01 imsa caddy, Renger and Bourdais. i don’t think Earl and Alex will be split up, but they DO need a third driver for next year so??? again…Pipo..? if not that then Illot, Nato or Stevens. or Phil Hanson even?? he’s good but i don’t see people including him in these conversations 🫠

as for other teams, i don’t know. we might have to consult a crystal ball for this. i also think Nico Müller could join Proton in wec. idk if that’s insane, i think i’m not the only person saying this😭 i have many questions. if Proton gets a second car (something they’ve been discussing apparently) we could see some of porsche’s younger guys there. bc well. why not? imo Preining would be next in line for a hypercar seat. but what do i know. i am a little curious cat who likes to talk and spread misinformation sometimes

this is my fav comment about the whole thing