British GT News: Ben Keating Returns to WEC for Home Race at COTA
Two-time World Endurance Championship (WEC) title winner Ben Keating will make his highly anticipated return to the series for the upcoming race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas next month. This marks the 52-year-old American’s first appearance in a regular WEC event since leaving the series following his second GTE Am title win last year.
Keating will join forces with the Proton Competition Ford squad, racing the #88 Ford Mustang GT3 in the LMGT3 class. He will share the driving duties with factory driver Dennis Olsen and Mikkel Pedersen. This lineup fills the mandatory bronze-rated driver position in the LMGT3 entry, which was previously occupied by Giorgio Roda and team boss Christian Ried.
“The winner of the GTE Am title with the TF Sport Aston Martin and Corvette Racing squads in 2022 and 2023 respectively, Keating opted not to pursue a hat-trick of GT titles in WEC this year, as the series introduced the new LMGT3 class. Instead, he expressed a desire to scale down his racing activities in 2023 and focus on a single programme in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America in 2024.”
Keating, whose dealership group is based in Texas and includes multiple Ford outlets, is thrilled to be returning to the WEC for his home race at COTA. This one-off appearance is expected to be part of his continued involvement in the IMSA LMP2 class with United Autosports, where he is seeking a third title after his 2021 and 2022 triumphs with the PR1/Mathiasen squad.
The only other change to the WEC entry for the Lone Star Le Mans round in Austin is the return of Harry Tincknell to Proton’s Hypercar class Porsche 963 LMDh. The Briton had missed the previous round at Interlagos due to his commitments in the IMSA GT Daytona Pro category with the Multimatic Motorsports squad.
Track action for the WEC event at COTA is scheduled to commence on August 30th at 12:40 local time.
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