DEMPSEY – PROTON RACING (ALL)

Owner : Patrick Dempsey
Team Principals: Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster
Base : Flowery Branch (USA)
www.dempseyracing.net

2016 FIA WEC results:
Silverstone 6 Hours: 23rd Dempsey/Seefried/Long (USA/AL/USA) no. 77 Porsche 911 RSR (6th LM GTE Am)
Spa-Francorchamps: 28th Dempsey/Seefried/Long (USA/AL/USA) no. 77 Porsche 911 RSR (5th LM GTE Am)

     To say that Patrick Dempsey’s return to Le Mans was eagerly awaited would be an understatement! In 2009, the American actor, a dyed-in-the-wool motor racing fan, drove a Ferrari F430 in the GT2 Category with Joe Foster and Don Kitch Jr; they finished 30th overall (out of 32) and ninth in their class. The car was entered by Don Kitch Jr’s Team Seattle and the AF Corse client team service, Advanced Engineering Team.

     Just before the start of the 2012 Sebring 12 Hours the star of Grey’s Anatomy announced his return to the Sarthe. The original project was to enter an LM P2 in the Mazda colours using the Japanese company’s first P2 diesel engine as Dempsey has been closely involved with the company since 2007. As Mazda did not achieve its aims in 2013, the Dempsey Racing team, which he runs with his faithful right-hand men Joe Foster and Michael Avenatti, fell back on a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR entered with the help of Proton Competition.

     Dempsey’s passion for motor sport goes back to the early noughties. In 2002, he bought a share in a team, Hyper Sport, and he took driving lessons with Joe Foster as instructor before he threw himself into racing. In 2009 he became the sole owner of his team renamed Dempsey Racing, which entered for several American Series with or without its illustrious owner: Continental Tire Series, Rolex Series GT (best result 6th Mid Ohio in 2009 with Patrick at the wheel) plus Grand-Am and ALMS. In 2010 Dempsey Racing scored its maiden victory in Watkins Glen when James Gué and Leh Keen won the GT category in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car in a Mazda RX-8 GT.

     Patrick Dempsey has taken part in the Daytona 24 Hours on several occasions with a best result of 13th overall and 4th in the GT category in 2011 with Foster-Esbenlaub-Long. That year the actor raced in 11 out of the 12 rounds in Grand-Am in a Mazda.
In 2012, in preparation for its outing at Le Mans in a prototype, Dempsey Racing competed in five rounds of the ALMS with its Lola-Judd while continuing in the different classes in Grand-Am. In 2012 the team raced in no fewer than 51 events with five cars and 16 different drivers. The result was two top-3 finishes as Dempsey-Foster saw the flag in third place at Lime Rock and second in Road America. In addition to five races in the ALMS, Dempsey also started eight rounds of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in his Mazda RX-8 GT.

     In 2013, Dempsey Racing briefly became Dempsey Del Piero Racing as the actor allied himself with Italian football star Alessandro Del Piero another great motor sport lover. The team ran two Porsche GTCs in the ALMS. In the Sebring 12 Hours #27 driven by Dempsey-Foster-Lally started from pole and finished sixth, one place in front of the team’s sister car in the hands of Avenatti-Davis-Faieta. On 24th March Dempsey-Lally-Cush clinched a category win in the General Tire Mint Off-Road Rally in a Zero One Odessey.
The remaing ALMS races yielded a sixth place (Dempsey-Foster) at Long Beach and third (Dempsey-Lally) at Laguna Seca. At Le Mans Michael Avenatti, the team manager, who was initially down to drive, handed over to Porsche works driver Patrick Long, proof of the German manufacturer’s interest in the entry of this car. Overall the team put on a great performance leading the category during the night before some mechanical glitches dropped it back to fourth. In the last round of the ALMS, which has since become the TUSCC, Dempsey Racing saw the flag in sixth place.

     In 2014, the actor raced in the TUSCC with direct backing from Porsche although his results prior to Le Mans were average. However, with the backing of the experienced Proton squad Dempsey Racing was among the favourites with an unchanged driver line-up of Dempsey-Foster-Long at the wheel of the latest version of the LM GTE Am Porsche. But it wasn’t enough and the result was an anonymous 24th place overall and 5th in LM GTE Am even if Dempsey led the category briefly.

2015 marked a turning point for the team as Dempsey, now a member of the Porsche family, decided to tackle the full FIA World Endurance Championship. For this ambitious programme, he was still able to count on Proton Racing, which ran his Porsche, and his faithful team-mate, Patrick Long, while Jo Foster handed over his seat to German Marco Seefried. Dempsey raced at Silverstone and Spa for the first time and wasn’t very much at home on either circuit. In England he finished 23rd and in Belgium 28th despite a big off by Seefried (6th and 5th in GTE Am).

     He had long dreamt of finishing on the podium at Le Mans – and that dream came true with the team taking second place after a remarkable race by the three drivers and a gripping last few laps. The actor-turned-part-time racing driver was looking more and more like a driver and part-time actor and set his sights on a podium top spot. Alas, the team finished fourth at Nürburgring and in Austin. However, their efforts finally paid off in Fuji where they bagged the 25 points for the win. No podium spot in Shanghai, but Ried/Long/Seefried took third place at the season finale in Bahrain, with Ried replacing Patrick Dempsey, who was busy filming by then.

     There are a few changes for the team in 2016: firstly, Patrick Dempsey is taking a break from his racing career to devote himself to his family and acting and, secondly, Porsche has chosen Dempsey-Proton Racing to represent it in LM GTE Pro in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The German manufacturer has not entered any official cars in the class, preferring instead to focus on the development of the next version of its 911 RSR to comply with the new technical regulations into force since the start of next year. The new car has already completed its shakedown but won’t be seen on the track until 2017. In the meantime, back to the 2016 season: duo Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen kicked off at Silverstone finishing sixth in class after losing time in the pits. At the next round in Spa-Francorchamps, the pair finished fourth. The team’s third man for the 24 Hours of Le Mans was initially going to be Wolf Henzler, but he will now be racing in the FIA WEC in KCMG’s Porsche. His seat with Dempsey-Proton has thus gone to Austrian driver Philipp Eng, winner of the German Porsche Carrera Cup in 2014 and victor in both the German Porsche Carrera Cup and Porsche Supercup in 2015. 

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