Bruni, Tincknell To Race Proton Porsche 963 In Three IMSA Rounds

Proton Competition will have its new Porsche 963 running at last in the World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza on 9 July. Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell will form two-thirds of the crew that will drive the #99 Porsche in its debut in July and for the following two rounds of the WEC season.

But between long gaps in the WEC calendar, Proton Competition will gain additional mileage and experience for its new Hypercar by entering select rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.

Proton announced it will enter three IMSA rounds beginning with the IMSA Sportscar Weekend at Road America on 6 August, followed by the IMSA Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on 17 September.

Bruni and Tincknell will drive in both these IMSA rounds, and they will be joined by a third driver to be announced later at the annual Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on 14 October. These three races are, in fact, the final three rounds of the season in which GTP cars will participate – as the weekend at VIRginia International Raceway is for GTD cars only.

“This season serves as a valuable learning experience with the LMDh, and having consistent drivers racing our cars in both WEC and IMSA will undoubtedly contribute to our growth,” Proton Competition said in its announcement through social media today.

Bruni won a Rolex watch as part of the Proton Competition effort that won the LMP2 class in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, in which the team came back from what appeared to be a weekend-ending crash in practice to win the race in a photo finish.

Tincknell, meanwhile, has kept busy this year as part of Project 1 – AO Racing’s effort in WEC LMGTE Am class racing – and will represent Proton Competition in GTE Am driving their #88 Porsche 911 RSR-19.