Jani completes Proton's LMDh line-up for 2023 WEC season
Le Mans 24 Hours winner Neel Jani will join Proton Competition’s LMDh assault on the World Endurance Championship from July’s Monza 6 Hours.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Jani will share Proton’s sole #99 Porsche 963 hybrid contender with Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell in the final three races of the seven-round WEC season.
It will mark Jani’s return to the top echelon of prototype racing since his 2018/19 WEC campaign with Rebellion Racing in an Oreca-built R13 non-LMP1 hybrid.
“I am very excited to join Proton Competition on their new journey in prototypes and want to thank the team for their trust," said Jani. "I have known Gimmi and Harry for a long time and am looking forward to teaming up with them for this challenge“.
Jani will be driving a customer Porsche despite having split with the German manufacturer at the end of the 2022 season, having not been selected as part of its factory LMDh programmes in the WEC and the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The Swiss driver previously enjoyed a successful stint in Porsche’s LMP1 programme that saw him take the Le Mans 24 Hours/WEC title double in 2016.
However, he struggled for performance during his sole season in Formula E with the German manufacturer in 2019/20, and his speed in the Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE car in 2021 also left much to be desired.
Porsche 963 LMDh customer
Photo by: Porsche
It is unclear if Jani will also be signed as a third driver for Proton’s IMSA programme for which Bruni and Tincknell have been signed as the team’s primary drivers.
Bruni and Tincknell will drive as a duo for Proton’s IMSA GTP debut at Road America in August and then Indianapolis in September, but the team will require an additional driver for the season-ending Petit Le Mans enduro at Road America.
Proton is one of the three teams to run Porsche LMDh customer machinery this year after Jota and JDC-Miller, electing to run one example of each in WEC and IMSA.
But while Jota and JDC-Miller have already got their first LMDh outings under their belts after receiving their supply of cars from Porsche in April, Proton elected to wait before racing their two 963 LMDhs for the first time.
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