Proton Competition finished in 16th place in the Hypercar class and as the third-best privateer team in the FIA World Championship.
The 92nd edition of the world-famous endurance classic was marked by changeable weather with heavy rain and numerous safety car phases. The number 99 hypercar, which made its Le Mans debut with Harry Tincknell (GBR), Neel Jani (SUI) and Julien Andlauer (FRA), lost contact with the leading group due to an early pit stop after around an hour due to a defective door lock. After losing three laps, they were able to reenter the race with good pace and the goal of fighting their way back to the lead lap. Those plans were later quashed by an additional technical problem which forced the car back into the garage for repairs.
Having already completed the required race distance, the team switched gears and focused on finishing the last lap of the race to be ranked, and were rewarded with the final step of the privateer podium.
Voices after the race
Michael Ried, team owner and technical director of Proton Competition: “Le Mans once again lived up to its reputation as the toughest car race in the world. The rain that kept coming made for extremely difficult conditions on the track and made choosing tires a real lottery game. Compliments to our drivers, who mastered this difficult task excellently. Thank you also to the entire team for their fantastic efforts.”
Harry Tincknell (Porsche 963 #99): “I am proud of our entire team, which brought us to the finish despite all the problems. In the end, we were on the podium, which was the reward for the enormous efforts in this extreme race. We are taking a lot of positives with us from Le Mans and I am sure that we will bounce back in São Paulo.”
Julien Andlauer (Porsche 963 #99): “Our deficit due to the early pit stop was impossible to make up, although we tried everything to get back on the lead lap. For us, it was ultimately just a matter of collecting as much data as possible on the track in order to further improve our car for the next races. As the third-best private team, we finally made it onto the podium, even if it was not the podium we had hoped for. But we are looking ahead and want to do better in São Paulo.”
Neel Jani (Porsche 963 #99): “That was a crazy race. Unfortunately, it was more or less over for us after an hour because the door was broken and we lost three laps in the garage. It’s a shame because we had a good pace and could easily have been in the running for a top 10 place. That would have been a great result for us against the many strong factory teams. Overall, it was a very difficult Le Mans. I have never experienced it so extreme with the rain, the cold and the wind. But we brought our car to the finish line safely and are now looking forward to Brazil with confidence.”
