WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans
Absolute Racing Porsche team makes last-minute Le Mans return
The Absolute Racing Porsche team has been promoted from the reserve list to a slot on the Le Mans 24 Hours grid at the eleventh hour after Hardpoint Motorsport's withdrawal.
James Newbold
Edited: Jun 1, 2022, 3:16 PM
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Hardpoint's Rob Ferriol secured an automatic invite to the 24 Hours by winning the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's Bob Akin Award for the highest-ranking Bronze driver in the GTD championship standings last year.
Ferriol had intended to take up the Le Mans entry in partnership with Proton Competition, running a Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the GTE Am class under the Hardpoint Motorsport banner.
Katherine Legge and Adrien de Leener featured alongside Ferriol on the provisional Le Mans entry list, but ahead of Sunday's Le Mans test day it was revealed on Wednesday that the entry would be switched to another Proton customer, Absolute.
The team had been third reserve on the provisional entry list, with Absolute's European Le Mans Series Andrew Haryanto, Alessio Picariello and Martin Rump its nominated drivers. That trio will now take over the #99 Porsche, which will still be entered under the Hardpoint Motorsport banner.
Haryanto finished seventh in GTE Am on his Le Mans debut last year alongside Picariello and Marco Seefried.
Absolute Racing team director Ingo Matter said: “We were hoping to return to Le Mans this year after our presence last year. We just didn't anticipate it to happen with less than a week until the Test Day.
“We'd like to thank Christian Ried from Proton and Hardpoint Motorsport for making this possible by granting us access to their entry.
“We can’t wait to get started and put the experience we gained last year to the track.”
Ferriol has been racing with Legge in IMSA this year, the pair scoring a best finish of seventh at Long Beach, but the team skipped the most recent round at Mid-Ohio and are not present on the entry list for this weekend's Detriot Belle Isle meeting.
Ferriol said: “Christian and the entire team at Proton have been fantastic in helping us navigate this process, and we hope to be in a position to partner with them again very soon.
“Fortunately, with their help, we’ve been able to quickly integrate the Absolute Racing team who we’re confident will represent Porsche, Dempsey-Proton, and Hardpoint with a strong finish.
“We wish them all the luck and will be cheering them on from the US.”
The 2022 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours will commence on Saturday 11 June.
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