Proton targeting IMSA return in 2026

Despite the recent announcement that Proton Competition would not bring any of its privateer Porsche 963s to the grid for next year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, Christian Ried and his team have not taken long to bounce back from that disappointment.

Ried is working to organize a return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship during the 2026 season, telling RACER of “helpful and very positive” discussions about that prospect.

Proton Competition’s No. 5 Porsche 963 ran only a partial Michelin Endurance Cup schedule in IMSA last season, a campaign that was cut short when the Mustang Sampling-sponsored car sustained critical chassis damage during an accident at Watkins Glen.

The team and its No. 5 Porsche did not appear on the entry list for the 2026 season that was published in October, as either a full-time or Endurance Cup participant, and is not on the maxed-out entry list for the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona that was released this week. But the German squad, which made its IMSA GTP debut in 2023, is clearly interested in running multiple races in IMSA’s top category later in the season.

Ried is also one of a number of prospective privateers eyeing up the Asian Le Mans Series’ new, Pro-Am Hypercar class, as a destination for “either one or two” Porsche 963s should there be suitable paying customers found to run the cars when the new Asian Le Mans Hypercar category launches in 2026-27.

Bob Berridge’s BBM Sport has already begun preparing to enter two in the Asian Le Mans Series, kick-starting the push to fill a grid for 2026/27.