ABU DHABI-PROTON RACING (DEU)

Technical director: Michael Ried
Team manager: Christian Ried
Base : Ummendorf (ALL)
www.proton-competition.de

2015 results:
Silverstone 6 Hours: 21st Ried/Bachler/Al-Qubaisi (ALL/AUT/ARE ) no. 88 Porsche 911 RSR (5th LM GTE Am).
Spa-Francorchamps 6 Hours: 27th Ried/Bachler/Al-Qubaisi) (ALL/AUT/ARE) no. 88 Porsche 911 RSR (4th LM GTE Am).

     This team was born of the association between Horst Felbermayr Sr and Gerold Ried (Proton Competition) in 2006. Until 2012 it was called the Felbermayr-Proton squad. The two men knew each other well as Felbermayr had been racing with Proton in FIA GT. Their colours appeared at Le Mans in 2007 through an entry by Seikel Motorsport. The 2007 season was a successful one as the team scored three GT2 victories (Valencia, Spa and Interlagos) in its debut Le Mans Series thanks to Lieb-Pompidou, but it was not good enough to beat the Virgo Ferrari F430 GT. The following year, the duel continued and Lieb-Davison again finished second behind Virgo Motorsport in the Le Mans Series GT2 ratings. The team raced at Le Mans under its own name for the first time and Davison-Henzler-Felbermayr Sr finished twenty-seventh overall (5th in LM GT2).
     In 2009, Felbermayr-Proton achieved its aim by winning the LM GT2 category in the Le Mans Series helped Lieb-Lietz’s three victories in Barcelona, at Spa and the Nürburgring. Le Mans ended in retirement, and at the end of the season the team finished third in the Asian Le Mans Series. In 2010, Lieb-Lietz racked up another LM GT2 title in the Le Mans Series with three wins at Le Castellet, Spa and Budapest. The highlight of the year was victory (11th overall) in the Le Mans 24 Hours where Lieb-Lietz were backed up by Wolf Henzler. They finished the season on a high note as Felbermayr-Proton won the first ILMC Team’s title in LM GT2.

 

     

     2011 got off to a bad start as the car was involved in the pile-up at the start of the Le Castellet 6 Hours dashing Lieb-Lietz’s chances. No. 88 in the hands of Felbermayr father and son backed up by Ried saw the flag in in seventeenth place. Felbermayr-Proton entered two Porsche 911 RSRs (997) for the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours in the LM GTE Pro category, and the team was determined to repeat its 2010 success. After a no-holds-barred battle in the category the Porsches were beaten by Corvette and Ferrari and the quickest car driven by Lieb-Lietz-Holzer finished 4th in GTE Pro. In LMS the team was classified 3rd in its category.

     The Porsche was given a thorough revision for 2012 (new gearbox, width increased by 48 mm, wheel width increased by 30 mm, etc). Porsche again entrusted this team with the task of running its works 911 RSR in the Pro category. In addition, the team entered a second 911 in GTE Am for one of the bosses Christian Reid and two well-known Italians Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti in the world championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours. It made a great start to the season by winning its category in the Sebring 12 Hours and then finishing second at Spa. These results boosted Felbermayr-Proton’s hopes for the 24 Hours for this Porsche, which was entered in GTE Pro last year driven by Tandy-Al Faisal-Miller (rtd, accident). Ried-Roda-Ruberti were among the favourites for victory in the Sarthe but the car retired for the second year running (gearbox failure). The German team then won in Sao Paolo and in Bahrain, but failed to clinch the GTE AM title as the failure to score points in the Sarthe (which counted double) was too big a handicap to overcome.

     In 2013, the team was again called Proton Competition. It entered its no. 88 Porsche in the LM GTE Am category in the WEC for an experienced trio consisting of Ried, Roda and Ruberti. They were not quick enough to mix it with the front-runners and arrived in the Sarthe with two fifth-place finishes at Silverstone and Spa. At LE mans they finished 35th and eighth in their category with sixth place in the championship at the end of the season.

     In 2014 Roda and Ruperti joined another team so backing up Christian Ried were Austrian Bachler and Al-Qubaisi from the Arab Emirates. Proton scored a brace of second places at Silverstone and Spa in the GTE Am category. Like Dempsey Racing they too had the latest version of the Porsche in the Sarthe. After a good race they finished second in LM GTE Am (21st overall), but were unable to catch the winning Aston Martin. In the championship they finished third.

     In 2015, the partnership with the United Arab Emirates has been expanded and this season the Porsche is entered in the colours of Abu-Dhabi-Proton Racing with the same driver line-up as in 2014. It’s a similar alliance to that of Dempsey Racing. The year got off to a slow start in the FIA WEC, but with their experience, their cohesion and the speed of Bachler, a Porsche protégé, they can win races and that will be their aim in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

     In ELMS, 2016 did not get off to the best of starts at Silverstone, but one of the two Proton Competition Porsches was victorious in LM GTE in Imola with its new line-up of Hedlund/Henzler/Renauer. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, however, the #89 Porsche will be driven by an all-American crew (Mac Neil/Keen/Miller). There is another new line-up (in the Porsche #88) racing for Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing in FIA WEC, where the 2016 season also got off to a tricky start as they trailed home Iast in class at Silverstone and Spa. Christian Ried, now driving KCMG’s Porsche, has handed his seat over to David Heinemeier Hansson, back racing in GT after a year in LM P2. After the first round in the UK, Klaus Bachler made way for Patrick Long who, together with Patrick Dempsey, finished second in LM GTE Am at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year. Will the French-speaking American, a Porsche works driver, be able to take the team to the top spot on the podium at Circuit de la Sarthe this year…?

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