Viscaal to Make IMSA Debut in Proton GTP Lineup

Bent Viscaal will make his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut as a late addition to Proton Competition’s GTP lineup for Motul Course de Monterey powered by Hyundai N.

The 24-year-old Dutchman will join Gianmaria Bruni aboard the No. 5 car for the fourth round of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

It will be Viscaal’s first appearance in the WeatherTech Championship, having been a regular in LMP2 competition since he transitioned away from single seater racing in 2022.

He has an existing relationship with the Christian Ried-led Proton stable through its effort in the European Le Mans Series, where Viscaal, Giorgio Roda and Rene Binder finished second in the LMP2 Pro-Am class at Paul Ricard last weekend.

Previously, Viscaal spent a full season as part of Prema’s LMP2 effort in WEC, securing a pair of fourth places at Spa and Bahrain.

Proton had a seat available for the Laguna Seca event as most of the drivers that previously partnered Bruni aboard the No. 5 Porsche have commitments elsewhere.

Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer will be racing for the team as part of its FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar effort at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on the same weekend.

Both Mike Rockenfeller, who raced alongside Bruni at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and Harry Tincknell will be on the grid in California as part of Ford Performance’s factory GTD Pro program.

Finally, Alessio Picariello, who raced the car at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, has clashing commitments with the Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS round at Buriram.