 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
 | |
| Founded | 1996 |
|---|---|
| Base | Ummendorf |
| Teamprincipal(s) | Christian Ried |
| Current series | FIA World Endurance Championship European Le Mans Series IMSA Sportscar Championship GT World Challenge Europe |
| Former series | BPR Global GT Series FIA GT Championship Asian Le Mans Series Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Le Mans Series |
| Current drivers |  Christopher Mies Dennis Olsen Frédéric Vervisch Gianmaria BruniAlessio Picariello Ryan Hardwick Giammarco Levorato Corey Lewis Ben Barker Zacharie Robichon Mikkel O. PedersenGiorgio RodaMatteo Cairoli Macéo CapiettoJonas RiedJonas Ried René Binder Bent ViscaalJulien AndlauerMatteo CressoniClaudio Schiavoni Neel JaniHarry Tincknell Nicolás Pino |
| Teams' Championships | 5(LMS2009,2010,ILMC2010) GT2, (ELMS2018,2020,2023) GTE |
| Drivers' Championships | 3(LMS2009,2010) GT2, (ELMS2020) GTE |
| Website | http://proton-competition.com |
Proton Competition (also formerly racing asDempsey-Proton Racing orTeam Felbermayr-Proton) is a Germanauto racing team based inUmmendorf, Baden-Württemberg. It was founded by Gerold Ried, and is currently owned by his sonChristian Ried. The team currently competes in theFIA World Endurance Championship with a customerPorsche 963 and a factory-supportedFord Mustang GT3. It also competes in theEuropean Le Mans Series with theOreca 07 and thePorsche 911. They also have a racing program in theIMSA SportsCar Championship, racing with a customerPorsche 963 and a factory-supportedFord Mustang GT3 and prepare Porsche 911s for theIron Dames program.
The team was founded in 1996 byGerold Ried. Ried entered two GT2-specPorsche 911 GT2 to compete it in theBPR Global GT Series. Both cars #51 and #69 got six points each in the Teams Championship. 1997 saw Proton compete in the inauguralFIA GT Championship season running one 911 GT2. The team earned only one point throughout the season. Proton also competed at that year'sDaytona 24 Hours which saw the team finish 27th overall. Between 1998 and 2002 saw little success for the team. They competed in the same 911 GT2 between these years mostly with the father/son partnership of Gerold andChristian Ried. The team raced the same car in the first few races of the2003 season before moving down a class from GT to N-GT after purchasing aPorsche 996 GT3-RS They only picked up one point in the season at the final round inMonza.
Things picked up for the team in2004 where the team finished fourth in the Teams Championship. Their best race finish was third at the opening round inMonza, the same venue where they scored their only point in the 2003 season.2005 saw Proton finish second in the Teams Championship, although in a GT2 class that was simply dominated byGruppe M Racing who won every race in the GT2 class that season. Proton earned 45 points, some 135 points behind Gruppe M. Team Cytosport finished fourth in the LMP1 teams championship.The team changed its name for the upcoming2006 season toTeam Felbermayr-Proton afterHorst Felbermayr Sr. became part of the team. A new colour scheme was also introduced changing from the orange/red and black to a light blue livery, a similar livery to the one used by the team now. It did not bring them as much success as 2005 however, with the team finishing fifth in the Teams Championship. The driver pairing ofChristian Ried andHorst Felbermayr Jr. finished eleventh in the Drivers Championship.
2007 was the year that the team progressed into theLe Mans Series. They competed with three cars in the2007 season in the GT2 class; No. 77 was aPorsche 997 GT3-RSR driven byMarc Lieb andXavier Pompidou, No. 79 a 996 GT3-RSR driven by Gerold Ried, Horst Felbermayr Sr. andPhilip Collin, and No. 88 a 997 GT3-RSR driven by Christian Ried and Horst Felbermayr Jr accompanied by a third driver in some races which includedThomas Grüber,Marc Basseng andJohannes Stuck.
The best of these trio of cars was No. 77 which took second place in the Teams Championship only three points behind winnersVirgo Motorsport. The driver pairing of Lieb and Pompidou also took second in the Drivers Championship, 9 points behindRob Bell of Virgo Motorsport andJMB Racing. Car 77 won three of the six races in the season. Car No. 88 only managed to pick up seven points finishing eleventh in the Teams Championship level on points with JMB Racing. Car No. 79 did not pick up any points.
The team also contested selected rounds in theFIA GT Championship that year finishing with only one points scoring race which was eight points at theBucharest 2 Hours with cars No. 66 and 69 finishing second and seventh respectively.
2007 was also the year that the team made their début at the24 Hours of Le Mans. The team contested the75th running of the famous event partneringSeikel Motorsport. The father and son partnership of Horst Felbermayr Jr. and Sr. alongside Philip Collin were the drivers in car No. 71. Qualifying didn't go well with the car qualifying in 52nd position out of 54 cars. The race didn't last long either with the car retiring after 68 laps due to a problem with the electrics.
Team Felbermayr-Proton's 2008 campaign was similar to 2007's. They would compete every round of theLe Mans Series, selected round in theFIA GT Championship and compete at theLe Mans 24 Hours. The team raced two cars in the LMS rather than three in 2007 with Marc Lieb joined byAlex Davison in car No. 77 while car No. 88 was piloted by the two Horst Felbermayrs and Christian Ried. Despite not winning any races, car 77 finished second in the Teams Championship finishing once again behind Virgo Motorsport with a gap of 5 points this time round. Car 88 finished eighth place with ten points, level withFarnbacher Racing.
The team only competed one round in FIA GT which was theFIA GT Bucharest 2 Hours. The team scored no points in either of the two races that weekend.
The team made its full début at Le Mans with no partnership from Seikel Motorsport this time round. The teams' line up for Le Mans was Horst Felbermayr Sr. Alex Davison andWolf Henzler. Qualifying went well with car 77 qualifying in second place in the GT2 class behind 2007 class winnersIMSA Performance Matmut. They were not able to retain their second place qualifying position during the race but finished a respectable fifth place in class and 27th overall.
The2009 season was Felbermayr-Proton's most successful season to date. Marc Lieb remained in car 77 for the 2009 season withRichard Lietz becoming his teammate replacing Alex Davison. Horst Felbermayr Jr. and Christian Ried remained in car 88 with Felbermayr Sr. replaced byFrancisco Cruz Martins. It was car 77 that earned all of the success for the team winning three of the five races and winning the Teams Championship by just one point ahead ofJMW Motorsport, with car 88 finishing tenth in the standings earning five points. The pair drivers of Lieb and Lietz also won the Drivers Championship beating JMW drivers Rob Bell andGianmaria Bruni by a point. The team entered the2009 24 Hours of Le Mans with essentially two cars with No. 77 driven by LMS regulars Lieb and Lietz, who were joined byWolf Henzler. They also partnered IMSA Performance Matmut who are long time Porsche competitors with car No. 70 with the two Felbermayrs racing alongside Matmut driverMichel Lecourt. The team were pretty confident going into the race after qualifying where they repeated their 2008 qualifying position of second in the GT2 class. The team narrowly missed out on pole position by only 0.030 seconds behind American Porsche competitorsFlying Lizard Motorsports. Unfortunately their race came to a very early end after just 24 laps when car 77 ran out of fuel. The IMSA/Felbermayr car 70 soon followed by retiring on the 102nd lap. Felbermayr-Proton wrapped up their season when they contested the inaugural round of theAsian Le Mans Series and indeed the only round of the season in Asia. The race was atOkayama in Japan and the team brought over the two cars but mixed the driver pairings up a bit. All four drivers were German. Marc Lieb was joined by Le Mans teammate Wolf Henzler in No. 77 and Christian Ried was joined in No. 88 byMarco Holzer. Both cars finished second and fourth in class respectively.
The team hoped to continue their 2009 success in 2010. The team retained their No. 77 championship winning line up of Lieb and Lietz for the2010 season with Christian Ried retaining his No. 88 seat alongsideMartin Ragginger for the season. Porsche factory driversPatrick Long andRomain Dumas also joined car 88 for a few of the LMS events. Car 77 once again was the force to be reckoned with winning three of the five races and once again winning the Teams Championship. They finished a comfortable 21 points ahead of second place teamAF Corse. Car 88 was a lot more competitive than in previous years finishing fourth in the standings. Lieb and Lietz also retained their Drivers Championship titles beating the AF Corse trio ofJean Alesi,Giancarlo Fisichella andToni Vilander by 21 points.
2010 was the inaugural season of theIntercontinental Le Mans Cup, a global endurance racing series that mixes in with events like the Le Mans Series and theAmerican Le Mans Series. It is the first of its kind since theWorld Sportscar Championship last run in1992. The2010 edition was a sort of prologue to a proper season with three events with one event in Europe, America and Asia. Felbermayr-Proton took part in the European and Asian rounds atSilverstone andZhuhai. The team won the championship with 72 points, 15 points ahead of LMS rivals AF Corse. As it was a series for teams and manufacturers, a drivers championship was not awarded.
For the2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team hoped that their championship winning car could prove its status this time round after a disappointing early exit in last years edition. The previous year's car 77 trio of Lieb, Lietz and Henzler remained while car 88 saw the father/son duo of the Felbermayrs return being joined by Slovakian racerMiro Konopka. Qualifying went reasonably well for No. 77 qualifying fourth in class while No. 88 started second last. The race however was a completely different story with car 77 taking the GT2 class victory at Le Mans in 2010 beating Ferrari, Corvette and fellow Porsche factory teams. It was Marc Lieb's second class victory, winning the2005 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GT2 category withAlex Job Racing. Richard Lietz also won his second class victory in 2010 after winning the GT2 class in his first Le Mans race in 2007 with IMSA Performance Matmut. It was Wolf Henzler's first class victory at Le Mans. Car 88 did reasonably well finishing eighth in a highly competitive GT2 class.
The2011 Le Mans Series season saw the GT2 class split to two classes LM GTE Pro and LM GTE Am. GTE Pro was for teams using 2011 spec cars or older and were allowed have a fully professional (gold and platinum) driver line up. GTE Am was for teams with 2010 spec cars or older and could only have one professional or gold category driver in the line up. The team raced with two cars with once in each class. Car 77 was a 2011 specPorsche 997 GT3-RSR in LM GTE Pro driven by champions Lieb and Lietz. Car 88 was an older spec GT3-RSR competing in the LM GTE Am class and was driven by Horst Felbermayr Jr. and Christian Ried with appearances from Felbermayr Sr. andBryce Miller in some of the rounds. In GTE Pro, the team finished third in the Teams Championship, sadly not earning three championships in a row. The GTE Am Porsche also finished third in the championship out of four competitors and picked up a win in the opening round atPaul Ricard.
The team competed in that year'sILMC but only in the GTE Am class and restoring the oldProton Competition name of yesteryear. The car used was No. 63 and had many different driver combinations throughout the seven-round season with Christian Ried racing in all but one of the events. Proton finished third in the championship with 52 points.
The team went into the2011 24 Hours of Le Mans in two classes as well as being the reigning GT2 Le Mans winners. They kept the Lieb/Lietz/Henzler alliance that won Le Mans in 2010 for their No. 77 GTE Pro car while the GTE Am car No. 63 was driven by team boss Christian Ried and the two Felbermayrs. Proton also operated an extra 911 GT3-RSR No. 88 in the Pro class, driven byNick Tandy,Abdulaziz al-Faisal andBryce Miller. The two Pro cars qualified in the middle of the pack while the Am car qualified second fastest in class. Out of the three cars, No. 77 was the only one that finished which was fourth in class. Car No. 63's race came to an end near dawn on the 199th lap when the No. 74Corvette Racing car in GTE Pro went to lap the Proton Competition car driven by Felbermayr Sr. at the time. Corvette driverJan Magnussen who was leading in the Pro class at the time, tried to lap the Porsche on the inside of the final part of the Porsche Curves rather than around the outside. TheCorvette C6.R went onto the grass and spun hitting the driver's side of the Porsche head on injuring Felbermayr Sr., who was the oldest driver competing at Le Mans in 2011. Car No. 88 retired thirty laps previously.
Proton Competition announced plans to campaign in the inaugural season of theFIA World Endurance Championship in2012 with two cars in GTE Pro and GTE Am. Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz would be the regular season pair in the GTE Pro car while Christian Ried and Gianluca Roda were scheduled to compete in the GTE Am Porsche.
Proton Competition teamed with Dempsey Racing at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans.[1]The team qualified 5th and finished 2nd in the LM GTE-AM class with drivers Marco Seefried, Patrick Long, andPatrick Dempsey driving the number 77 Dempsey/Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR.[2]
.jpg)
.jpg)
