The future shape of the Iron Lynx and Iron Dames GTE programmes was clear to see this morning at Algarve International Circuit with multiple drivers sampling Proton’s Porsche 911 RSRs.
Race winners yesterday in the ELMS finale, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy, set to be Gold and Silver rated in 2023 shared one Porsche on Monday Morning with Matteo Cressoni also in the garage suited up in his yellow Iron Lynx race suit for a run. DSC understands too that Andrea Piccini too is set to test a Proton Porsche during three days of testing here.
Of significant interest too was the presence of two other new drivers to the Proton team, both, coincidentally dressed in Wright Motorsports overalls.
Ryan Hardwick, winner of the Bob Akin Award from the 2022 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship with its associated automatic invitation to the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours, saw time aboard one of the Porsches, and late in the morning, Christina Nielsen, now Bronze-ranked, took to the track for what DSC believe is part of the evaluation by Iron Lynx to determine whether the Danish double IMSA GTD Champion will join the Iron Dames effort full-time in 2023.
Nielsen drove as a replacement for Sarah Bovy in the FIA WEC at Spa this year when the Belgian tested positive for COVID 19 ahead of her home race.
DSC believes that the Iron Lynx organisation are set to collaborate in both the ELMS and FIA WEC with Proton Competition in 2023 with a single Porsche in the ELMS allocated to Iron Lynx (not as we previously reported an Iron Dames car), as part of a lane three car Proton effort in Europe.
In the FIA WEC we now understand that the Iron Dames will race in one Porsche alongside another WEC car for Iron Lynx.
Proton are understood to be requesting a further two Porsches for 2023 in the WEC with one crew formed around Team Principal Christian Ried, the other set to feature Michael Fassbender who will graduate from the ELMS after three seasons.
