Team Hardpoint and Rob Ferriol to race at Le Mans with Proton Competition

Rob Ferriol owner and driver of Team hardpoint will start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year in GTE-Am class. For its debut in Sarthe, the American team has joined forces with Proton Competition.

For his first steps at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Hardpoint will make common cause with Proton Competition, the well-known structure of Christian Ried. Katherine Legge, who rides for the team in the United States, will be part of the crew with Rob Ferriol in a Porsche 911 RSR. The Virginia-based team earned the invitation to the GTE-Am classic after Rob Ferriol, the team's boss-driver, won the Bob Akin Award.

Rob Ferriol "We're going step by step, the first step was to find the right team to partner with locally in Europe so that we could maximise our chances and benefit from the team's experience there. So we opted for a partnership with Proton. They have an excellent track record at Le Mans and a good knowledge of both sides of the Atlantic. It's a good relationship to build. We will bring in members of our team, as I have said from the beginning. We will also bring Katherine as a Gold pilot from the crew.

"Right now, that's what we're really focusing on, now that we've solidified the team part and we have leadership. The goal is to stay true to Hardpoint's thesis from the beginning, trying to show that motor racing can be a really fertile ground for the right partners and activation partners. What we are looking to do at Le Mans is to bring together the right partners who would make the most sense to fill the Silver seat. Ideally, we will identify a Silver with a budget who has a partner who would like to come and benefit from the activation potential at Le Mans.

Rob Ferriol is aiming for a third driver who combines top speed and budget: "I've always said that when you bring in drivers, they bring one of two things: pace or budget. In an ideal world, they bring both. However, we don't live in a perfect world, so I see it as a sliding scale where we want to find the right balance between the pace and potential of all the drivers, but also make sure that we approach the program in an intelligent way. Part of the budget is to set up budget opportunities through partners.

Hardpoint has no plans to race before Le Mans in a Porsche 911 RSR even though a run is planned before the Test Day on June 5.