Bruni Headlines Proton Lineup for Team’s GTE Title Defense

Porsche factory driver Gianmaria Bruni will contest the full European Le Mans Series this year as part of an adjusted driver lineup for defending GTE champion Proton Competition.

Bruni, who is one of Porsche’s FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-Pro drivers, will share the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with Jaxon Evans and Proton boss Christian Ried.

Both Bruni and former Porsche Junior Evans are new to Proton’s ELMS setup after Ried won the GTE category title last year alongside Michele Beretta and Alessio Picariello.

Ried and Evans will also combine in the WEC, sharing one of the newly available 2019-spec customer Porsches with Matt Campbell.

Proton’s other Porsche entry for ELMS will feature the returning trio of Richard Lietz, Felipe Fernandez Laser and Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender.

Bruni, who is Lietz’s co-driver in WEC, made his most recent ELMS appearance in the 2018 round at Monza where he joined Proton as a substitute for that event, but the Italian hasn’t previously contested a full campaign in the series under its current guise.

The triple 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner won the 2011 Le Mans Series GTE-Pro title with Ferrari before the championship was renamed the ELMS from the following year.

He moved from Ferrari to Porsche in 2017 and has represented Stuttgart in both the WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since then. Most recently, Bruni drove for the Proton-run WeatherTech Racing squad in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

ELMS debutant Evans adds further Porsche affinity to the No. 77 lineup as a former Junior driver for the brand and a race winner in last year’s Mobil 1 Supercup series.