Tincknell, Priaulx Join Ried in Dempsey-Proton Porsche

Multimatic drivers Harry Tincknell and Seb Priaulx have signed with Dempsey-Proton Racing for the Porsche team’s GTE-Am effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The pair will co-drive the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with team boss Christian Ried across the six-round campaign which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Tincknell drove a Proton-run Porsche at Le Mans last year, but Priaulx is set for his first action in the world championship, the French enduro and the GTE formula.

The 21-year-old Guernseyman won the inaugural Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands last year.

His signing with Dempsey-Proton brings back the Tincknell-Priaulx partnership that existed in the WEC for three seasons when Tincknell and Seb’s father Andy teamed up on the Ford GT program.

The first iteration of the Tincknell-Priaulx duo took four GTE-Pro race victories, with two coming at Shanghai and one each at Fuji and Silverstone.

“I’m excited to be back in the World Endurance Championship and back with Proton after making my debut with the team at Le Mans last year,” said Tincknell, who was at one stage without a full-time ride for 2022 following the closure of Mazda’s DPi program.

“I managed to get up to speed quickly in the Porsche 911 RSR, which has very different characteristics to the Ford GT and the Aston Martin Vantage.

“I was very impressed with the team, which has a wealth of experience and the results to go with that. Christian is one of the best Bronze drivers in the business and with Seb I think we have the fastest Silver out there.

“This also means I will have raced with two generations of Priaulx.

“I learnt a lot from Andy in WEC and now I’ll be passing some of that knowledge to his son, Seb. He did an amazing job in the Porsche Carrera Cup last year so I have no doubt he’ll be very fast in WEC.

“Representing Porsche is a big honor so I’m very motivated to do a good job and see what we can achieve.”

Priaulx made his 24-hour race debut at Daytona last month, driving a Ligier JS P320 Nissan in the LMP3 class.

He described his upcoming WEC introduction as a “big step up” and an “incredible opportunity” in equal measure.

“I’m really pleased to be driving with Harry as he’s like a brother to me,” said Priaulx.

“I got to know him when he raced the Ford GT with my dad and we’ve been in the same IMSA paddock for a few years now, racing with Multimatic. Our goal is to win races and hopefully take a shot at the championship.

“Thank you to Multimatic Motorsports and to Proton for giving me this chance. I’m so excited to be racing at Le Mans and to be doing it in a Porsche really is the icing on the cake.”

Dempsey-Proton Racing’s recruitment of two Multimatic-contracted drivers heralds a double change to the No. 77 Porsche crew ahead of the 2022 WEC season.

Ried, who has piloted the No. 77 car each year since 2017, teamed up with Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell last year.

The German Bronze-rated competitor shared a car with Campbell in the last three seasons and won the GTE-Am class at Le Mans with the Porsche factory ace in 2018.

Campbell currently drives for Porsche squad Pfaff Motorsports in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD Pro class.

Multimatic team boss Larry Holt explained that the organization will provide some “technical support” to the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton entry this season.

“Multimatic Motorsports has a quiet racing year in 2022 as we engineer and develop the Mustang GT3 for 2024 and continue to support Porsche as they develop the LMDh car, and so we have turned to our partners to keep the drivers occupied,” he said.

“We had Dirk Mueller and Austin Cindric placed with Proton USA for the Daytona 24 this year, and now Harry and Seb will contest the full WEC season with Christian in a Dempsey-Proton Porsche.

“We will also bring technical support to the car, as we did last year at Le Mans.”