Proton Porsche Gave Andlauer Confidence to Attack

Julien Andlauer “would not have changed anything” about Proton Competition’s race in Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after missing out on a podium finish, speaking of a “perfect race” in which he personally delivered a standout performance in only his third start in Hypercar.

Andlauer and co-driver Neel Jani finished fifth in the No. 99 Porsche 963 after a strong race that saw Proton lead a significant chunk of the race and remain in podium position until the post-restart pit cycle resulted in the team dropping back to eighth.

However, Andlauer charged back up the order in the final, extended portion of the event and gained three positions before the checkered flag.

Notably, all three places were gained into Eau Rouge, with Andlauer passing both Alpine’s Paul-Loup Chatin and Toyota drivers Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi into the famous corner.

He later told Sportscar365 that the confidence he gained from his car motivated him to push and go on the offensive in an attempt to make up lost ground.

“Everything goes through the right way when you have a good car, the execution is alright, you’re in a good position and you get more and more confidence and then you can bring on even more rhythm and risk a bit more, let’s say, or try more things,” said Andlauer.

“In the end, the car gave me this confidence and I just tried to do my best to have a good final result and at least a good performance.

“Unfortunately it doesn’t pay today, but I think we showed a good potential overall with the strategy, execution work for all of us and the pace also.”

Andlauer’s showing in the final portion of the race was in addition to a strong opening stint in which he took the lead in the opening hour after passing both Alex Lynn and Fred Makowiecki.

He then opened up a gap of more than 15 seconds to the chasing Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, although that lead was slashed by a second-hour safety car for a multi-car incident at Bruxelles.

“I was just on it, I liked the car and I think we had a very good package for the whole race,” Andlauer said about his opening stint.

“We were, I think, quick the whole race and at the start, I don’t know, I just feel like I could bring a good rhythm, saving the tyres and the fuel in the same time.

“Hopefully it’s going to be the same in Le Mans with the same potential.”

Proton fell behind Ferrari in the second half of the race but still ran third at the red flag, although the decision to restart the race most likely cost the team a podium.

Despite that, Andlauer looks back positively at Proton’s performance at Spa, describing it as a “perfect race.”

“I would have not changed anything,” he said.

“We did a perfect race, to be honest. From the start on, we could take the lead, create a little gap.

“With the virtual safety car, we lost the 15-second gap we had to the Ferrari and then we lost the position in the middle [of the race] because the Ferraris were a little bit quicker.

“But we were still fighting for at least the podium, maybe the victory but the red flag just removed the chances for us.

“But at the end, this is racing. Today it’s bad luck for us and next time of hopefully it’s gonna be better luck.”

Jani: Spa Performance ‘Light at End of Tunnel’ for Proton

Andlauer’s co-driver Jani also struck a positive tone about Proton’s performance, noting that it was the team’s ‘first clean weekend.’

Jani, Andlauer and Harry Tincknell had a particularly tough outing at Imola, where the No. 99 car retired with an MGU failure.

“We should have been the best Porsche today, but in the end it didn’t work out like that,” Jani said.

“For us it’s light at the end of the tunnel. It was the first time we had a clean weekend in terms of preparation and everything, and it paid off.

After [the door issue] we pulled away and we showed we deserved to be in the lead. Julien did a fantastic job and we maximized what we can. We showed if things go our way, we can play a bit.

“Minimum we would have been P3 without the red flag. I don’t know if we would have won, but P3 for sure.”

Jamie Klein contributed to this report