At the end of the 2023 season Proton Competition won the European Le Mans Series LMGTE Teams and Drivers title for the fourth time, the only team to win the ELMS title more than once in the past ten years and the winners of the last ever ELMS LMGTE title.
The no16 Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Alessio Picariello, Ryan Hardwick and Zacharie Robichon won the title with 105 points, 20 points ahead of the no77 911 of Christian Ried, Giammarco Levorato and Julien Andlauer, giving the German team a 1-2 in the championship standings.
The no16 Porsche took five podiums from six starts, including two wins in Barcelona and Portimão, with Ryan Hardwick claiming pole position at Spa-Francorchamps and Portimão.
Le Castellet was the only race that the no16 Porsche failed to take a podium, with the no77 Proton Competition 911 taking the win to ensure the team stood on the podium at every race, taking nine of the eighteen podiums during the season.
The first qualifying session of the 2023 season saw American Ryan Hardwick set the third fastest time of the session, just 0128s behind the pole sitting JMW Motorsport Ferrari and 0.015s short of starting on the front row for Round 1, the 4 Hours of Barcelona.
The start of the race saw the Safety Car deployed at the end of Lap 1 when a multi car caused by a spinning LMP3 car eliminated several LMGTE entries, including the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried. Ryan Hardwick managed to avoid any problems and the no16 Porsche was leading the category when the race went back to green.
After Hardwick’s stint Zach Robichon was leading, ahead of the no66 JMW Motorsport and the no50 Formula Racing Ferraris. Robichon opened up a five second gap to his rivals, handing the lead over to Alessio Picariello to bring the car home to record the first win on the season.
With the cancellation of the race in Imola, it was nearly three months before the competitors got back on track in Le Castellet. Ryan Hardwick was only able to qualify the no16 Porsche in 6th position, while his teammate Christian Ried put the no77 Porsche on pole position.
A strong performance by the crew of the no16 Porsche saw Picariello challenging Matteo Cairoli for second place, while Julien Andlauer held a 20 second lead in the no77 Porsche. However, two off road excursions, the second caused by a collision with the no57 Ferrari, dropped Picariello out of contention and a penalty for the Ferrari was awarded.
However, a post-race penalty for the no16 Proton Competition 911 for causing a collision with the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson during the race saw a Drive Through penalty converted to 35 seconds which was added to the overall race time, dropping the Proton Competition trio down to 9th while their teammates in the no77 car celebrated on the top step of the podium.
The result also meant that the no16 Porsche was knocked off the top of the championship standings by the no60 Iron Lynx Porsche which had finished second, the Italian team on 30 points to Proton Competition’s 27 points after two races.
The first ever visit by the ELMS to Motorland Aragon and the only night race of the 2023 season saw the no16 Porsche bounce back after the disappointing result in Le Castellet.
Ryan Hardwick put the car in 3rd position on the grid for the 4 Hours of Aragon, 0.3 seconds behind the pole sitting no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari.
The race start saw a five-way battle for the LMGTE lead, with Hardwick maintaining his third position. Zach Robichon took over and maintained the team’s third position behind the Formula Racing and Kessel Racing Ferrari 488s. As the race progressed the Formula Racing Ferrari went off track into the barriers, bringing out the Safety Car.
When the race restarted the no16 Porsche driven by Alessio Picariello was second and chasing Davide Rigon in the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, with the no93 Proton Competition Porsche of Martin Rump in third. This is how the race ended as the chequered flag was waved, with the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Julien Andlauer taking 4th, just 0.2 seconds behind Martin Rump.
This meant the no16 Porsche returned to the top of the championship standings on 45 points, but just 2 points ahead of the race winning no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
Ryan Hardwick took his first ELMS pole position on the 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit, lapping the Ardennes track over six tenths faster than any of his rivals.
The race started with a multi car accident at the first corner that brought out the Safety Car for 20 minutes. LMGTE contenders managed to avoid the incident and when racing resumed Ryan Hardwick was still in the lead in the no16 Porsche but was being challenged by Jens Moller in the no44 GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage, who in turn had the no72 TF Sport Aston Martin of Arnold Robin in close contact.
The no16 Porsche was able to maintain this front running position for the rest of Hardwick’s stint and for the whole of Robichon’s time in the car and it was left for Alessio Picariello to bring the car home.
The battle ensued between the no16 Proton Competition Porsche of Alessio Picariello and the no60 Iron Lynx Porsche driven by Matteo Cairoli. The two cars went head-to-head to the chequered flag with Picariello holding on to take the chequered flag and a home win for the Belgian driver.
However, the no16 Porsche was given a 10 second penalty for not respecting the speed under Full Course Yellow and accelerated too soon. This dropped the no16 Porsche to 3rd and promoted the no60 Iron Lynx Porsche into first place ahead of the no50 Formula Racing Ferrari.
This meant that the no16 and no60 Porsches were tied on 61 points each at the head of the championship standings with two races in Portugal left to run.
The final two races of the season were held in Portimão, the first time in ELMS history that two races had been held on the same weekend. The first race was a replacement for the cancelled event at Imola back in May.
On a rain-soaked track, qualifying for the penultimate race of the season, the 4 Hours of Portimão, saw Ryan Hardwick qualify in 6th as the session was interrupted twice by red flags.
In the race, which saw both rain and sunshine in the four hours, the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried got into the lead, while Ryan Hardwick swiftly moved up the field to take second place from Duncan Cameron in the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari.
Robichon had maintained the no16 Porsche’s position before handing over to Picariello, the Belgian getting into the lead. The lead for the LMGTE category was between the two Proton Competition Porsches with Julien Andlauer challenging his teammate Picariello. For several laps to two cars fought for the top spot but eventually Andlauer took the position with 20 minutes of the race to run.
It was a Porsche 1-2-3 in the LMGTE class with the no77 and no16 Proton Competition 911s fighting all the way to the chequered flag. Julien Andlauer finished 0.5 seconds ahead of Alessio Picariello, with Matteo Cairoli third in the Iron Lynx Porsche, a further 3 seconds behind.
Second place gave the no16 Porsche 79 points, a 3-point advantage in the championship standings going into the final round with the no60 Iron Lynx Porsche on 76, the no77 Porsche on 67 and the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari on 65 points.
In qualifying for the final race of the season, the point for the LMGTE category went to the no16 Proton Competition Porsche.
Ryan Hardwick set a 1m58.574, 0.263s ahead of the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura. The Japanese driver set the best overall times in sector 1 and sector 2 on his final lap and looked on course to secure the pole position but took the chequered flag in 1m58.837.
Torrential rain forced the start of the 4 Hours of Portimão to be delayed by 90-minutes before the decision was made to start the race behind the safety car. However, after two laps the race was red flagged, and the cars lined up on the grid for 45-minutes as the heavy rain abated.
The race went green at 15h30 with Ryan Hardwick was making the most of his pole in LMGTE, leading the way in the no16 Proton Competition Porsche, moving ahead of the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura and the no77 Porsche of Christian Ried. Ried went off track at T13 and dropped to 9th.
As the race progressed Ryan Hardwick had been passed by Duncan Cameron’s Spirit of Race Ferrari and was fighting hard to maintain his second place in LMGTE from a charging Jens Moller in the no44 Aston Martin, but the American held on until he pitted to hand the car over to Zach Robichon. Robichon then set off after Matt Griffin, who had replaced Cameron in the no55 Ferrari. Robichon got into the lead to hand the car over to Alessio Picariello for the final time.
Picariello was leading but his fellow Belgian Ulysse De Pauw in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari had passed the no77 Porsche and was closing the gap to the leading car. However, at the chequered flag, while De Pauw finished second on the road, he was given a post-race penalty for not respecting the driving time, dropping the car down to 7th in class and promoting the no77 Proton Competition Porsche to second and the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari to third.
Ryan Hardwick, Zach Robichon and Alessio Picariello had secured the last ever ELMS LMGTE titles in the best possible way, securing maximum points in the final race of the season.
CLICK HERE to view the final 2023 LMGTE Championship Standings.
