2023 was a spectacular year for prototype racing, the best in a long long time, with stacked fields in the IMSA GTP and FIA WEC Hypercar classes, as well as high-quality fields in the LMP2 classes around the world.
Looking over some of the key personalities that took some of the big wins and titles this year, it feels like an impossible task to pick just one name.
In the FIA WEC, there were a number of drivers in Hypercar that could have taken this award. All three HERTZ Team JOTA drivers for instance, were outstanding and hit the ground running as soon as JOTA received its first Porsche 963 in the build up to the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Will Stevens arguably the most impressive and error-free of the trio with Antonio Felix da Costa and Ferrari-bound Yifei Ye bringing huge pace.
At Ferrari James Calado and Antonio Fuoco stood out whilst at World Champion Toyota, Brendon Hartley, Seb Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa were all head turners, though none of the five mentioned there were error-free, and that’s why they have all fallen short here.
Over in IMSA there were a number of very high-quality performers, Colin Braun, and Tom Blomqvist were exceptional at MSR, Champions Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani came through the tightest knit field in years to take the title, but they aren’t top of the heap for us either and neither is the pacey Filipe Albuquerque.
Our runner-up is Alex Lynn, a stand-out in the WEC Cadillac Racing squad and a title-winning run in the ELMS too with Algarve Pro Racing.
But our 2023 winner is another driver that blended a season in GTP with LMP2, where he won the final WEC title with Team WRT alongside race winning efforts for Racing team Turkey in ELMS and 99 racing in Asian LMS, plus podium finishes for Wayne Taylor racing and Tower Racing in IMSA. He was, quite simply, one of the most exciting drivers in the sport in 2023, one of ‘those’ drivers that drew the eye whenever he climbed aboard whatever he climbed aboard.
Now, deservedly, with a full season GTP contract for 2024, Louis Deletraz is DSC’s 2023 Prototype Driver of the year
