The successful streak of Proton Competition in the European Le Mans Series continues: At the four-hour race in Le Castellet, the successful team from Ummendorf in Swabia celebrated their second win of the season in the GTE class with their Porsche 911 RSR.

At the Circuit Paul Ricard, Christian Ried (Germany), Giammarco Levorato (Italy) and Julien Andlauer (France) drove from pole position to victory in the #77 Porsche 911 RSR. After their bad luck at the opening race in Barcelona, where they retired through no fault of their own, they secured Proton Competition their second victory in the second ELMS race of the season.

With the number 16 car, Ryan Hardwick (USA), Zach Robichon (Canada) and Alessio Picariello (Belgium), the winners of the season opener in Barcelona, were on course for a podium finish just before the finish line. Then they were dropped to ninth place by a penalty. After a strong initial phase, the number 93 car with Michael Fassbender (Ireland), Martin Rump (Estonia) and Richard Lietz (Austria) finished 10th.

In the LMP2 Pro/Am class, Giorgio Roda (Italy), Jonas Ried (Germany) and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) drove a strong race and, like in Barcelona, finished sixth.

Quotes after the race
Michael Ried , team owner and technical director: “Despite the long break since the start of the season, our team was perfectly fit. The second win in the second race gives us a very good starting position in the fight for the championship title. So it can go on. In LMP2 we confirmed our solid performance from Barcelona. That too is a success.”

Christian Ried , team owner Proton Competition and driver Porsche 911 RSR #77: “A week ago we won the WEC in Monza, now in the ELMS in Le Castellet. That's something to be proud of. A key to our success was our strong qualifying with the pole position. This shows once again how important it is in this strong championship to start every race from the front.”

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 911 RSR #77): “Two wins in one week and in two different championships – a great result. We can build on this achievement. But the season is still long and tough.”

Giammarco Levorato (Porsche 911 RSR #77): “After our bad luck in Barcelona, that was exactly the right answer. I am very happy about my first win with Proton Competition.”

Ryan Hardwick (Porsche 911 RSR #16): “We're a bit disappointed after our opening win. We made good progress, but then we were slowed down by a few incidents. We want to fight for victory again in Aragon.”

Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “Michael drove well and brought us up to second place. It looked really good. It's a shame that we couldn't stay in the top group until the end."

Giorgio Roda (Oreca 07 #99): “We started the race very well and were even in the lead for a short time. The competition in our class is very strong and has a lot of experience ahead of us. But I am sure that we will make progress from race to race. It will definitely be an interesting season.”

Race result
class GTE