Last week’s 8-hour race in Bahrain was not only the season finale of the 2023 World Endurance Championship (WEC), but also the end of Christian Ried’s racing career. The 44-year-old, who has competed in all 85 WEC races since 2012, is hanging up his helmet and will concentrate on running the Proton racing team together with his brother Michael.
Ried gives several reasons for this decision. “The many new programs and the end of the GTE. As a racing driver, I have no desire for GT3,” says Ried. “The combination of these points was ultimately the deciding factor for my resignation.”
After Proton competed with Porsche vehicles in the GTE class for many years, the racing team from Ummendorf in Swabia has also been using a Porsche 963 LMDh in the WEC hypercar class and in the IMSA series since this season. In 2024, Proton will also use the Ford Mustang in the WEC’s LMGT3 class. There are also programs in the European and Asian Le Mans Series as well as in Porsche one-make cups.
Ried demands all of this as team boss, so he gives up his “hobby that has gotten a bit out of hand” (laughs) after more than 20 years. “It’s amazing how many races there were,” marvels Ried.
“I’ve not only driven in the WEC, but since 2007 also in many other ACO series, in the ELMS for example, which were significantly more races. In addition, in 2011 there was the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which we won. Sometimes it’s surprising “I wonder how many races there are and how it worked as a hobby,” says Ried.
The highlight of his career was the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018, when Ried won the GTE AM class together with Julien Andlauer and Matt Campbell. “Winning this race with Matt and Julien, two boys who are the same age as me, was a very special highlight.”
“I was allowed to drive the last stint, and before I got in, my race engineer said that we had no more brake pads and that I should just be careful, then they would last until the end. That’s of course funny when you’re given the lap times and “You still have to be careful because you really want to win,” remembers Ried.