Ryan Hardwick is one of three American drivers racing in the LMGT3 class this weekend at COTA, but only he and Simon Mann have been here all season long in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Last year, the East Tennessee-born, Atlanta-raised driver shifted his racing focus from IMSA to ACO-sanctioned racing. He was the Bronze anchor in the Proton Competition Porsche team that won the last-ever GTE class race and the last championship in the European Le Mans Series, and he made his first start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The continuation of Hardwick’s new focus this year brought a new challenge – continuing with Proton Competition as they switch from Porsche to the all-new Ford Mustang GT3, and moving to the World Endurance Championship’s new LMGT3 class as a full-time competitor.
“This year has had some ups and downs, our very first year with a brand new project, with the Mustang GT3. Going into it, we knew it would be a development year,” Hardwick told DSC about his season so far. “We’ve definitely learned a lot about the car, where it has some strengths and also some weaknesses.
“The highs were obviously Le Mans – the car performed really, really well at Le Mans. I think we had one of the best packages there and a car that was capable of winning that race. We showed that with my team-mate Ben Barker turning the fastest lap of the entire week, and then I had a good performance in Hyperpole, not too far off the pole-sitting time.
“And so it was a disappointing finish for our car personally, with a part that has never broken, that broke. But it was great for Ford – our team-mates, our sister car, got third there.”
That untimely steering rack issue left Hardwick and his co-drivers, Barker and Zacharie Robichon, to languish down in 14th in class at the end of Le Mans – on a day where Proton’s two other Mustangs entered that weekend finished third and fourth.
It could have been the high point of what has otherwise been a challenging first season for the #77 Proton Competition crew in particular – only three top-ten finishes, the best of which was a seventh place at the 6 Hours of Saõ Paulo last month.
“We haven’t had the pace that we’ve wanted at some of the other, I would say, tighter and more technical tracks. So yeah, it’s been a learning year. But one thing I’m happy about is we continue to improve,” Hardwick remarked.
“Last race in WEC was our best finish of the year in the #77 car, and we look to build upon that here in COTA.”
It’s a learning year, not just for Hardwick but for all hands on deck with the Mustang GT3 in its first year of service – the teams, and the roster of works drivers including Barker and fellow Proton driver Dennis Olsen. Much has been made about the car’s tendency to shed body panels like a cobra shedding its skin – particularly before Ford was allowed an “erratum fix” earlier this year to address the problem.
Between Proton and Ford Multimatic Motorsports, across three different championships, Ford is still searching for its first win with the new Mustang GT3.
Comfort isn’t a problem for Hardwick in his new ride, after spending his earlier career driving Lamborghini and Porsche models. “It’s just learning about the strengths and weaknesses of the car. The car is actually quite easy to drive. The power-down, the traction, the braking – it’s all quite easy!
“What’s challenging about the Mustang is actually – when you try to push and really get the next step in lap time, sometimes you end up going backwards. So that’s frustrating, as a driver, to try to find where the edge is in the car. I would say that’s maybe one of the areas that we’re working on – it’s that qualifying, one-lap pace.
“Our race pace is actually quite good because the car inherently is not so difficult to drive.”
Outside the issue at Le Mans, Hardwick is pleased with how reliable the Mustang GT3’s critical components have been, leaving him with one less thing to worry about behind the wheel.
“Cumulatively with the team – and I say the team, meaning Multimatic and also Proton – just learning the strengths of the car and really trying to highlight those, you know, where we put our lap time together in a different way than a lot of the other cars on the grid, and really getting a better understanding from that, I think, is our best success.
“And also, the car has been very durable. I have to give it to Ford and Multimatic – outside of our mechanical problem at Le Mans, it’s really been very strong. We’ve had a Mustang finish every 24-hour race we’ve been in our first year, and also the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the car has been very durable – so I’d say that’s another highlight.”
Hardwick also has no reason to panic over the Mustang’s bodywork issues from earlier this year. “Those are easy fixes, right? That’s a combination of latches and how the bodywork mounts. And those don’t worry me as much. What I’m glad is our engine and drivetrain and suspension – the main components of the car have been very rock-solid.”
While Hardwick’s focus as a driver has been on international competition since the end of 2022, the colours and logos of his businesses still adorn another Proton Competition Ford Mustang in IMSA’s GTD class. And Hardwick still has a driving presence in IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup, alongside Corey Lewis and Giammarco Levorato – the latter of whom gave the Mustang GT3 its first pole in any class or competition at VIRginia International Raceway.
“We talk and we work closely together at every race. I’m involved with the endurance races there, so I’m getting to do those with those guys. Giammarco and Corey, they’re pushing along just like we are here in the World Endurance Championship.
“It’s very helpful for the total development of the Mustang to have another car, in addition to the Multimatic factory cars over there running the full season. So it was great for not only myself, but Proton, to be able to have that entry in IMSA.”
Having accomplished all the success he could have hoped for in IMSA, Hardwick is eager to continue to race in the WEC to add a Le Mans class win to his prior successes at Sebring in 2020, and Daytona in 2022.
“The World Championship is my singular focus. I’ve accomplished a lot of the goals that I had in IMSA. I love IMSA – I love the championship.
“But I’ve won the biggest races there are – the Rolex 24 and Sebring, I’ve won the Bob Akin Award there twice, and I finished second in the WeatherTech Championship twice. So I really kind of ticked all the boxes there.
“The World Endurance Championship is my primary focus – and obviously, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, that’s the race every driver wants to win, and that’s definitely my goal. I don’t want to step away from the sport until then.”
This weekend, he could also achieve a very important milestone for Ford Performance’s revamped customer racing programme – and give the Mustang GT3 its first win at its home race.
Images © Andrew “Skippy” Hall / Dailysportscar.com
