Jani Was “Committed” to Proton Porsche 963 Program

Neel Jani has revealed that he had committed to being part of a continued Porsche 963 effort by Proton Competition in the FIA World Endurance Championship and was taken by surprise when the project collapsed at the last moment.

The Swiss WEC veteran was a part of Proton’s Hypercar effort from its inception in mid-2023 with a privately-entered car, but now faces a year on the sidelines after efforts to create a joint Penske-Proton effort to race in the series failed to reach fruition.

It follows Porsche’s original decision to withdraw its factory Penske-run operation from the WEC, which would have required Proton to expand to a second car in order to fulfill the requirement for each manufacturer to field two cars.

Jani said he initially had high hopes of the Christian Ried-led team staying on the grid in 2026 and he would have remained part of the driver lineup had the plans gone ahead.

The 42-year-old is now set to miss only the third WEC season since the championship was created in 2012, having previously skipped the 2019-20 and 2022 campaigns.

“I definitely won’t be in the WEC next year,” Jani told Sportscar365. “But for a long time [the chances of Proton staying on the grid] looked very good, as everything was in place and there was great support from many sides, including the ACO.

“Chris [Ried] was very positive and all the signals we got looked good, so I committed in that direction. A few different people were involved, so it could have been a very good project. Clearly, it caught several people off guard that it didn’t happen.

“Ultimately Porsche decided not to stay in WEC and it did have effect on customer support, so it’s a shame.”

Proton’s Hypercar journey with the 963 yielded a best result of fifth in last year’s Spa race, but the 2025 campaign marked a significant drop-off in the team’s performance.

The No. 99 car shared by Jani, Nico Varrone and Nico Pino managed only a single point for 10th place in the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in a season that proved much tougher for Porsche as a whole in large part owing to Balance of Performance struggles.

“We had some very good moments, even in the first year,” reflected Jani. “We were not that far off the Penske cars already in 2023.

“Then in ‘24, I would say we had some proper highlights and we were hoping to build on that for this year. But for whatever reason, suddenly the gap between us and Penske went from about two tenths to eight tenths.

“Sometimes it was a bit hard to work out where it came from as it was not very logical. The update to the front suspension made it a lot more difficult for a privateer team to understand [the car].

“Also because we never tested in all the two-and-a-half years, whereas the others are testing thousands of kilometers.”

Despite exiting the WEC, Jani is still set for a busy 2026 amid his intensifying simulator commitments with the fledgling Audi Formula 1 team, as well as competing in the Indian Racing League and the Ultimate Cup European Series for Cogemo Racing.

One-off outings in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship are also a possibility, he said.