Proton Sets Revamped Ford LMGT3 Lineups
Significantly overhauled lineups revealed for Proton Competition's Ford LMGT3 effort in FIA WEC...
Proton Competition will contest its second FIA World Endurance Championship with Ford with a largely revamped LMGT3 driver lineup.
Factory drivers Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen, together with Silver-rated racer Giammarco Levorato, are the only names to have been retained for the Christian Ried-led squad’s two-car Ford Mustang GT3 program.
Barker will share the No. 77 car with recent Michelin 24H Dubai winner Ben Tuck and Bronze-rated Portuguese driver Bernardo Sousa.
Sousa, 37, has largely competed in rallying in his career, although he also appeared in International GT Open in 2012 and drove a Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO in the Iberian Supercars series last year.
Proton’s other new Bronze-rated signing is Stefano Gattuso, an experienced racer in his native Italy who has also previously competed in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the Intercontinental GT Challenge, notably tackling the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa in 2018.
Gattuso will team up with newly crowned Rolex 24 at Daytona class winner Dennis Olsen as well as compatriot Levorato, who previously drove Proton’s Ford in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and raced for the team at last year’s WEC finale in Bahrain.
Sousa and Gattuso both tested with Proton at post-season WEC rookie test last November.
The two Fords will also be decked out in new liveries for the WEC season, featuring a mirrored design containing Ford’s trademark red, white and blue colors.