The FIA WEC field for Friday’s 1000 Miles of Sebring has been reduced to 36 cars following the withdrawal of the #88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR 19 driven by Harry Tincknell, Ryan Hardwick and Zacharie Robichon.
The #88, which suffered a heavy front-end impact with a concrete block in an incident during Free Practice 2 this afternoon, was left damaged beyond repair after the incident.
The contact in question involved Ryan Hardwick and Cadillac Racing’s Richard Westbrook. The contact between the drivers occurred in the braking zone to the hairpin, Westbrook moving across on Hardwick while trying to get past and take the racing line, clipping the front of the Porsche with the rear of his V-Series.R.
“It’s a real shame,” a disappointed Hardwick told DSC after the session. “We had a really good programme going here. Proton has a spare car but it’s in Europe so we can’t use it this weekend. The chassis was broken by the impact. We hope to be back at Portimao.”
By missing Sebring, the #88’s 2023 FIA WEC programme could be reduced to just three races, as DSC understands that the car is unlikely to continue after Le Mans in June. Proton is believed to be planning to scale back its GTE Am effort to a single car once it begins competing with the Hypercar class Porsche 963 it has ordered.
