Harry Tincknell last stepped out of a top-level prototype following an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race in victory circle at Road Atlanta, having taken the 2021 Petit Le Mans victory in Mazda’s final race in the DPi category with Oliver Jarvis. He could barely watch an IMSA race the following year, as he longed to be back. This weekend, with longtime Porsche racer Gianmaria Bruni, he makes his return in Proton Competition’s new Porsche 963.
“I’m absolutely buzzing to be back, honestly, since stepping out of the car in victory lane in ’21 in the Mazda, looking forward to this moment,” Tincknell said. “It’s been a little while, but I’m super-happy to be back in IMSA in the top class. I love this championship. And yeah, obviously an exciting program we’ve got here, with with Proton doing the WEC the last three races and the last few races in IMSA ahead of the team running in both championships full-time next year.”
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Proton Competition, one of the busiest teams in sports car racing, has been running programs in a variety of series, notably WeatherTech Racing’s GTD PRO effort with a Mercedes AMG for Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon this season in the WeatherTech Championship, and Porsche campaigns in the World Endurance Championship GTE category, under Proton-Dempsey Racing and Proton Competition banners. The Monza WEC round marked the debut of its Porsche 963 program in Hypercar (pictured, top), and this weekend at Road America, Proton becomes the second privateer team to bring a 963 to the GTP category after JDC-Miller Motorsports brought out their yellow No. 5 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The Monza debut with Tincknell and Bruni went well until the car rolled to a stop on the circuit with a cable that had become disconnected. It was a good showing considering that the car had never turned a wheel before FP1 on Friday, and it provided the team and the drivers with a ton of good information. Now Proton will bring a second 963 to IMSA, in WeatherTech colors, for the final three races of the season. Road America is a track where both drivers have had a measure of success, and with little pressure, the team is hoping to make something happen.
“We’ve got three individual races; we’re not going for any championships,” said Tincknell. “We can, if we’re in a position to, be aggressive on strategy, not having to hold back thinking about championship points or anything like that. That’s a nice position to be in. But at the same time, we obviously don’t want to come in and create the wrong headlines, either. So I think we’ve got a very good perspective going into the weekend. It’s kind of Monza 2.0, really, in terms of we’re just keeping our heads down, just going to get the laps, integrate the new personnel in the team who I think will be a big help to us. And just keep learning, and hopefully by the race, we’re in a position where we can mix it. But if it’s not this weekend, then it’s building towards Indy and and obviously Petit. I’m certain by then we will be in the fight.”
With his re-introduction to the series imminent, Tincknell admitted he has started watching IMSA races again, something he couldn’t do after Mazda’s program ended.
“I didn’t watch much in ’22,” he said. “I remember, I think it was at Le Mans for the test weekend, and it was the Detroit [IMSA] race. And I watched about five laps, I just turned it off. I was like, I just can’t, it’s just so sad not being part of it. Honestly, I think racing in IMSA has been some of the best moments in my whole career, I would say probably Petit actually trumps even Le Mans, just the way it happened with 30 minutes to go. And, you know, the last-ever race for Mazda.”
Despite the unhappy result, the 6 Hours of Monza weekend swelled the team’s knowledge base. If nothing else, the crew and drivers became acclimated to the car, learned the procedures for dealing with the hybrid system, and got a handle on the setup.
“I think we’re a lot better prepared now in terms of setup options,” he said. “I think we’re clearly a lot better at procedures. After you get to know all the systems and being confident in the procedures, you can just just roll out with a lot more confidence that everything is in order. Then from a driving and performance point of view, we have some idea of of how the car drives and what the car wants, in terms of setup and drive and stuff.
“We’re going into the weekend as drivers better prepared, just because we’ve done it once already. So for sure there’s a lot we can build on. But there’s also a lot of new stuff as well with IMSA; the aero package is slightly different versus WEC. We’ve got a few new personnel as well on board; we’ve got Jeromy Moore, who’s ex-Porsche LMP1 engineer. I think a lot of people wanted him, and we’ve got him, so that’s great. We’re just looking forward to building these relationships and keep improving. But it’s just another weekend where every single lap is vital to us.”
Tincknell has had time in a variety of cars since his last run in DPi. Still, he’s able to draw some contrasts between DPi and GTP, and finds some similarities between the new LMDh machinery and GT cars.
“Within three or four laps, I was happy sliding the car, four-wheel drifting throughout the track, and it gives you a lot of confidence to push, honestly,” he said. “The car feels like a big GT car. Rather than a super-snappy, agile prototype or single seater, it’s more towards the GT with your driving style and the way the car reacts. It’s obviously still very nimble, and very quick, but it’s … you can kind of see how some of the manufacturers have gone with their GT drivers, and they’ve got in and been successful straightaway, because it is a little bit more towards that than maybe I was expecting, compared to the DPi cars.”
Tincknell and Bruni will get their first taste of the 963 in IMSA configuration when the first practice kicks off at 11:05am Central time on Friday, ahead of a 10:10am race start on Sunday.