One of the quirkier storylines to follow this year in the FIA WEC concerns the return of Christian Ried to full-time driving duties.
The 45-year-old German, who co-owns Proton Competition and holds the record for the most WEC race starts, has come back out of retirement full-time in 2025, but not to drive for his own team. That’s right, Ried will race against the Proton Ford Mustang GT3s in an Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3.
So how did it happen? Ried spoke to DSC during the Prologue to tell the story.
“From the outside, it looks weird, but it’s quite simple,” he said. “We tested in December in Dubai, Giacomo Piccini was there, we had a nice dinner and he told me they had no Bronze driver. As Giacomo (Piccini), Claudio (Schiavoni) and Deborah (Mayer) are good friends and also Iron Lynx is a good customer for us, I said if you have an issue I am happy to help if I can. That’s how it started.
“I told them it is not on my list to drive again, I did two races last year in the Mustang, it was fine but it’s not on my list to get a full-season seat. I told Giacomo that if he really had no option we would speak, and he called me again in January and that’s when it was confirmed.
“I’m focused though, 100 per cent, on running the Proton programmes. I have nothing to do with the Iron Lynx-Mercedes-AMG deal. I will just go there, get in the car, do my laps.
“Here in Qatar, Proton is at the pit entry, Iron Lynx is based at the pit exit, so maybe I’ll find another team to work with in the middle of the pit lane so I have somewhere to stop for coffee between the two garages!”
It’s going to be a learning experience for all involved at Iron Lynx. The team made an extremely late switch to Mercedes-AMG from Lamborghini after the relationship between the two organisations frayed towards the end of the 2024 season.
So not only will Ried be learning a new car on the job here in Qatar with only limited shakedown testing in Italy under his belt, the team needs to get up to speed too. It’s a car Iron Lynx is unfamiliar with, that’s also new to the mandated torque sensor technology and the championship.
“From the outside, I must say they have done a mega job to prepare the cars,” he said. “The Mercedes did well in Daytona with the torque sensors, so with Iron Lynx’s massive infrastructure they can do this and succeed.”
On event, Ried’s duties will be split. But he’s entirely relaxed about it, despite the fact that he will be racing with one team and overseeing both Ford’s LMGT3 effort and his privateer Hypercar programme with Porsche at the same time. He is also not concerned about the potential for awkwardness if the two teams he is involved with come together on track.
“The good thing is, I am not in the car at the end of the race!” He joked when asked what would happen if his Mercedes was battling the Mustangs for podiums and wins. “So none of these decisions are mine. Iron Lynx will fight for a result, Proton will, I am just a Bronze driver having fun, staying out of trouble.
“I spoke to both Ford and Mercedes-AMG, told them the situation and how it happened. We are all professionals, I hope everyone can do this. We will keep things separate and try to get the maximum out of it for everybody.”
As for Proton’s other efforts, Ried is more confident in his team’s ability to score a breakthrough result this year than last, as the Mustang enters its second year in WEC. The car’s victory at the Rolex 24 Hours with the factory GTD Pro team was beyond encouraging and a year of experience with the car will surely help Proton move forward.
“Ford was already a big supporter and help for us in the first season when the car was brand new,” Ried added. “If you look back we had some great races, like the podium at Le Mans. Multimatic and Ford developed the car in a good way and it’s in a good spot for 2025. We had, especially at the beginning, big issues with bodywork after contact, but this is fixed now.”
The team will also not be stretched quite as thin this year. In 2024 it was drafted in on short notice to compete in GT World Challenge on behalf of Ford, in the wake of the brand’s sudden split with Dinamic GT before the season began.
“It was a really late call. Ford asked us to do it because they had committed to SRO, so we helped but it was clearly tough. For us, we are focused on ELMS, WEC and IMSA. Running any more series than that is too much.
The Hypercar crew meanwhile, has the potential to turn a few heads too. The 963 has matured nicely over the past 12 months, transitioning from a raw but flawed package to a car capable of winning races and titles.
The biggest test will be getting the new drivers up to speed. Only Neel Jani returns from last year and will race alongside Nico Pino and Nico Varrone, who are both young and new to the category and the 963.
“If you look back at the history of Proton, we always developed young kids,” he pointed out. “Look at Matt Campbell and Julien Andlauer, when we won Le Mans in 2018. So it’s time for the two Nicos to take this chance. We have everything in place to do well with them, Neel is a good coach.”
What’s the aim? With no other Porsche privateers in the field now and AF Corse’s privately-funded 499P acting essentially as a third works car, Ried and Proton are taking on the role of David solo, in a battle against an army of Goliaths.
“The benchmark for us is always the factory. We have the same car, so we should be able to perform at the same level.”
Featured image courtesy of DPPI
