Gianmaria Bruni from Italy, Harry Tincknell from Great Britain, and Julien Andlauer from France formed the crew for the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 in the FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue testing and Qatar 1812 km opener. According to Harry Tincknell, they considered it a week of learning. The trio finished in 10th place in the first race of the 2024 season. Tincknell reflected on the race week, which was preceded by two days of delayed pre-season testing. He mentioned that many things were new and unfamiliar, but having Julien Andlauer on the team helped with smooth teamwork. Although their race pace was great at times, they aim to maintain consistency.
During the Prologue analysis, Proton Competition’s average lap time was the lowest among all the Porsche entrants, including the works and customer Hypercars. Before the season, Proton made a minor change to their WEC driver lineup, replacing Gianmaria Bruni with Julien Andlauer. The Porsche 963 package showed strong performance at the new-to-WEC Losail International Circuit, with all five 963s occupying the top-five positions during the race. However, the #99 Proton Competition Porsche, along with the #38 JOTA, couldn’t match the performance of the works cars throughout the nearly 10-hour race. This highlighted the importance of tire management and consistent race pace.
Julien Andlauer made his debut in the category after spending several years as a driver in the Dempsey-Proton former GTE collaboration in Porsche 911 RSR machinery. He raced in LMP2 machinery for the first time in Proton’s 2023-24 Asian Le Mans Series campaign. The 24-year-old Frenchman qualified in 13th place with a time of 1:40.675, while 2016 champion Neel Jani started the #99 car in an intense race start. They utilized the reliable 963 to challenge their rivals in the opening hours, although their pace couldn’t be sustained for the entire race. Andlauer’s lap time of 1:41.414 on Lap 154 was comparable to the other works cars, surpassing his teammates who were likely affected by tire management. In the end, the team finished 11th on-track, which was later promoted to 10th place after the disqualification of the #93 Peugeot.