Proton Competition heads to the land of the rising for the six-hours of Fuji on September 10. The hypercars will be particularly in the spotlight at Fuji Speedway, as the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship takes to the Japanese track for the first time. Proton competition will be competing with its new Porsche 963 against the strong competition from the works teams of Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot, Toyota and Porsche and wants to gain further important experience with the sports prototype developed in Weissach on the demanding traditional circuit
Gianmaria Bruni (Italy), Harry Tincknell (Great Britain) and Neel Jani (Switzerland) will share driving duties in the #99 Porsche 963.
Quotes
Michael Ried, Team owner and Technical Director Proton Competition: “We celebrated a lot of great successes in Fuji. We enjoy driving on this traditional race track with the enthusiastic spectators. We are particularly looking forward to being able to present our new Porsche 963 in racing action to our many fans in Japan, who support us so well every year. We are confident that its Fuji premiere will be a success.”
Gianmaria Bruni (Porsche 963 #99): “Driving at Fuji is always something special. Endurance races have a long tradition in Japan. For us, the second WEC outing of our new Porsche 963 is still about learning and catching up as much of the experience as possible, where our competitors still have the advantage over us. ”
Harry Tincknell (Porsche 963 #99): “After my brief stint in Monza, it was very important for me to cover many kilometers in our Porsche 963 on Road Atlanta in the USA. That was good preparation for Fuji. I hope that I can implement a lot of what I learned and support our team in the best possible way.”
Neel Jani (Porsche 963 #99): “The Japanese are big motorsport fans. At the race track, they give up their natural reserve and are downright enthusiastic. It’s always fun to drive in this country. I hope that we can hold our own against the strong competition with our Porsche 963 and take another step forward.”
The Track
The 16-turn Fuji Speedway is 4.563 kilometers long and is scenically located in Omaya at the foot of Mount Fuji. A trademark of the traditional racetrack is the 1.5 kilometer start-finish straight. The weather is a major uncertainty factor at this time of year. Heavy rainfall can turn the course of the race upside down.
The Cars
The Porsche 963 celebrated its racing debut in January 2023 at the 24 Hours of Daytona. It is a sports prototype developed on the basis of the LMDh regulations (Le Mans Daytona hybrid). Its double-charged V8 combustion engine delivers 680 hp.
Schedule
The six-hour race at Fuji International Speedway starts on Sunday, September 10 at 11:00 a.m. local time (04:00 a.m. CEST). Eurosport 1 broadcasts live from 3.30 a.m. Nitro is boarding live at 8:30am. Live timing is available at www.fiawec.com.
The Series
In the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC, three vehicle classes will start together in one race this season, but will be evaluated separately. Proton Competition competes in the Hypercars with the Porsche 963, Dempsey Proton Racing with the Porsche 911 RSR in the GTE-Am class.