Jani Looking Forward to “Level Playing Field” at Le Mans

Neel Jani believes the 24 Hours of Le Mans will provide Proton Competition with its best chance to score an upset in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship by providing the Porsche team with a “level playing field.”

Proton has proven close to the pace of the factory Penske Porsche squad as well as fellow 963 customer Hertz Team JOTA in the first two rounds of the season, scoring a best finish of ninth in the season-opening Qatar 1812km.

The No. 99 car Jani shares with Harry Tincknell and Julien Andlauer had a more troubled time at Imola, finally retiring from the race with an MGU failure.

However, Andlauer was still able to get the car into the top ten in qualifying, ending up only just behind the best of the JOTA cars and within three-tenths of the slower of the two works Porsches.

Looking back on the weekend, Jani highlighted that, unlike the Penske and JOTA teams, Proton did not test at Imola in the lead-up to the race – a disadvantage the team will not face at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

“We didn’t test here, we missed FP3 and we missed half an hour of FP2 as well and we are still here somehow, fighting,” Jani told Sportscar365.

“Under all the circumstances, I’m very happy. How many days of testing did Penske do between Qatar and Imola? And we didn’t do anything and we are still within a few tenths. It’s quite shocking in that way.

“I am really looking forward to Le Mans, because nobody can test there. It’s the most level playing field we will find this year.

“After that, we have some tracks we know like Fuji, and it will be less like here [Imola].

“We’ll see how Spa goes, but I think top 10 has to be the aim always, and then for Le Mans I really hope we can do something.”

Even while lacking the outright speed of the other Porsche teams, Jani feels Proton has other strengths to leverage as it takes on the top class at Le Mans for the first time.

“It would be a dream [to finish on the podium], but it has to be the aim,” said Jani. “Nothing is impossible at Le Mans. I have already seen everything there.

“We have a very good driver lineup with myself, Harry and Julien. We know who is quick when, under what circumstances, track conditions. We know how to make the car so everyone can drive it.

“Those are strengths that we want to maximize, that we are working so well as a team. We have to be efficient with everything, because we can’t go and do endurance tests.

“We are the underdogs, but we have the chance to surprise. Le Mans is one of those races where you have the most chances to surprise, a bit like we did with Duqueine [in the LMP2 class] last year.

“Nobody expected them to be there, one-car team, and we were there fighting, even leading at one stage.”

Jani added he is resigned to the fact that Proton will be unable to conduct private testing for the rest of the season.

“In the end, we are a small, private team and we have to consider that the effort that the Ried family is putting into this is already huge,” said the Swiss driver.

“Our aim is to maximize their results within the circumstances and possibilities we have. So the aim is really [to perform at] Le Mans.”

Jani and Andlauer will race Proton’s No. 99 car as a duo this weekend at Spa with Tincknell away on IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship duty at Laguna Seca.