Ried Returns to No. 88 Ford Lineup in Fuji

Christian Ried will rejoin the lineup for the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 at this weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji.

The Proton team principal will drive alongside Mikkel Pedersen and Dennis Olsen for the six-hour race at Fuji Speedway, marking the second time he has raced the car this season.

The German first stepped in to replace Giorgio Roda at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in July, which was described at the time as a “one-time thing.”

Now, Proton has confirmed that Ried “will briefly come out of retirement a second time” in Japan. The 45-year-old holds ten previous race starts at Fuji, all of which came in GTE-Am. He scored four class podiums there between 2012 and 2017.

Ben Keating raced the No. 88 Ford at the most recent WEC round in COTA, although the team retired with a suspected steering rack failure towards the end of the race.

The lineup for Proton’s other two cars at Fuji remains unchanged from the previous round, with Harry Tincknell, Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer sharing the No. 99 Porsche 963 and Ryan Hardwick, Zach Robichon and Ben Barker piloting the No. 77 Ford.