Christian Ried’s latest ‘Retirement’ lasts almost 24 Hours!
Following confirmation that Christian Ried will cede his FIA WEC AMG seat with Iron Lynx in the #61 Mercedes AMG to Martin Berry, came the news at Paul Ricard yesterday that Ried will be back in the driving seat this weekend, this time in the #60 Proton Porsche.
He has been called up to replace regular driver Claudio Schiavoni, who has withdrawn from the Paul Ricard meeting after suffering back pain in testing yesterday.
Remarkably, for a driver with almost 30 years of racing history in Porsches, this will only be Christian’s second race meeting in a GT3 spec 911.
The only previous occasion came in 2014, again at Paul Ricard, when Christian shared a Martinet Racing 997 GT3R with Matthew Vaxiviere, Christian I’m pursuit of points towards the Porsche Cup that year! The pair scored a sixth-place finish in Race 2 after a DNF in the opening race of the weekend!
Whilst the scope of Claudio’s injury is currently unknown, there is every possibility that Christian may be back in an Iron Lynx AMG after all for next weekend’s WEC race at Spa.
He has one further race still scheduled with a return to the other AMG at Interlagos, a race for which Martin Berry has a prior clashing appointment.
After that, and a retirement that has so far included outings in three different LMGT3 cars (Mustang, AMG and now Porsche), we firmly expect Christian to reach for the carpet slippers and cocoa!
Duqueine Update
The new-for-2025 Duqueine D09 LMP3 cars in the ELMS and Michelin Le Mans Cup have arrived at Le Castellet with an important update.
The cars were understood to be proving to be somewhat marginal on cooling capability in 2025 form, and DSC understands Duqueine has been given dispensation to add an oil cooler above the gearbox from this race onwards.
Car Guy adds car
Takeshi Kimura is racing this weekend for Pegasus Racing in the #16 Ligier JSP4 alongside David Caussanel for the weekend’s double-header Ligier European Series rounds.
It is understood to be Kimura-san’s first outing in a prototype and comes courtesy of a last-minute opportunity after fellow Japanese racer Yuki Tanaka was unable to make the trip to France.
Perera in Panis Pit
Franck Perera is spending the race meeting with the VDS Panis Racing team ahead of him stepping into the cockpit of the #48 Oreca for the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans next month. He will replace full-season ELMS driver Charles Milesi, who will compete at Le Mans with Alpine in Hypercar.
Perera is “Taking in everything as part of the team that I can, learning their processes and how the team operates,” before a two-day test here on Monday and Tuesday in the ORECA together with Esteban Masson and Oliver Gray.
IDEC Sport opens its doors
IDEC Sport is based almost literally just over the circuit fence here at Le Castellet, and the team invited media and others to see its base on Friday evening with a reception inside the facility (opened in late 2023). It also used the opportunity to introduce its full 2025 ELMS and Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 line-ups.
Also in attendance was Genesis Magma Racing’s Cyril Abiteboul, whose own centre of operations for the Korean brand’s forthcoming Hypercar programme is nearing completion next door. IDEC Sport is working with the South Korean manufacturer to design and build the new facility, due for completion by July, with the first track test of the GMR001 test car to take place shortly afterwards.
Genesis factory driver André Lotterer was in attendance too. The three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will join IDEC Sport for Le Mans for his 14th start at the race, but his first outside the top class, as he replaces full-season ELMS driver Daniel Juncadella in the #14 IDEC Sport Oreca (Juncadella will be on TF Sport Corvette duty).
The IDEC facility is an impressive one. It boasts a seven-bay main workshop, with engineering and storage spaces, training and business facilities, and a very comfortable ‘club’ area.
Back any the circuit meanwhile and IDEC is undertaking a chassis swap for the #28 ORECA.
Featured image courtesy of ELMS
