The brand-new Porsche 963 from Proton Competition has been added to the preliminary 37-car entry list for the six-hour race at Monza in July, and it is scheduled to make its FIA WEC Hypercar debut.
Porsche has now released the third customer LMDh chassis, the new Proton 963 after JOTA and JDC-Miller received their cars last month.
The Proton 963 has been announced to be driven by Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell, as predicted. Currently, there is no confirmed driver for the third seat.
With the arrival of Proton’s #99 963, there will be a total of 13 Hypercars competing in the race, which is a record high for an FIA WEC race besides Le Mans. Additionally, Proton’s #88 GTE Am class Porsche 911 RSR 19, which was present at the first rounds of the season, is replaced by the 963, reducing the number of GTE Am vehicles to 13 altogether.
The #3 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, which raced in Spa as a one-time event as part of the GM brand’s pre-Le Mans preparations, is the only other car that was part of action at Spa but will not be heading to Italy.
Meanwhile, Glickenhaus’ effort returns to a single car on the Hypercar entry list after participating at Le Mans with a pair of the 007s. Currently, the only listed driver for the #708 is Romain Dumas.
Once more, United Autosports makes use of its two “Supersubs” after Ben Hanley replaced Felipe Albuquerque in the #22 Oreca, and Giedo van der Garde replaced Tom Blomqvist in the #23 car. This comes after both drivers were involved with IMSA.
Another change in LMP2 involves the presence of Mathias Beche in the #63 Prema Oreca and the concurrent participation of Mirko Bortolotti in the DTM’s Blue Riband Norisring Demolition Derby.
The position formerly occupied by Diego Alessi and Stefano Costantini earlier in the season in AF Corse’s #21 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO in GTE Am is now vacant. Next month at Le Mans, Simon Mann and Ulysse de Pauw, who will be driving the car for the entire season, will be joined by Julien Piguet.
