High hopes ahead of second ELMS round in Le Castellet

Proton Competition travels to the Côte d’Azur this weekend as the European Le Mans Series continues with round two of the season. The 4 Hours of Le Castellet (1 to 3 May) will see Christian and Michael Ried’s squad take on the formidable high-speed Circuit Paul Ricard with a four-car entry. Going by past performances in the south of France, confidence is high ahead of the weekend.
 
Boasting no fewer than four class victories and eight further class podiums, Proton Competition are no strangers to success at the 5.8km track. In fact, the team from southern Germany has secured a top-3 finish in at least one class in four of the past six ELMS races at the circuit.
 
Spearheading the effort in the top class, LMP2, is the #9 Oreca 07 driven by Jonas Ried, Sebastian Priaulx and former Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller. The trio will be looking to put their best foot forward and kick-start their season with a top result in France.
 
The second Proton Competition entry comes in LMP2 Pro-Am, where Horst Felbermayr Jr., Horst Felix Felbermayr and René Binder will be hoping to improve on their solid top-10 finish at the first round in Barcelona in their Oreca 07.
 
Proton Competition’s pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R will be competing for honours in the highly competitive LMGT3 category. Matt Kurzejewski, Tom Sargent and Richard Lietz in the #75 machine go into the race as the championship leaders, having won the season-opener in Barcelona three weeks prior.
 
The driver line-up for the #77 features the only change for the second round of the season: Joining Bankcy and Huub van Eijndhoven will be German driver Joel Sturm, who replaces Harry King.
 
Both Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race will be broadcast live and for free on FIA WEC+.

Schedule

Friday 1 May
11:50 – 13:20 Practice 1

Saturday 2 May
10:10 – 11:40 Practice 2
15:10 – 16:30 Qualifying

Sunday 3 May
12:00 – 16:00 Race

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Copyright: Proton Competition (Paola Depalmas)