Julien Andlauer performed a monstrous final stint for Proton Competition at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps amidst an impressive outing for the Frenchman.
The 24-year-old was only in his third race in the Hypercar category in which he raced as one-half of the duo lineup for the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963.
Despite him and teammate Neel Jani finishing fifth in the category, the pair asserted their dominance during the opening half of the six-hour race at the lead.
The red flag which was triggered due to #2 Cadillac V-Series.R driver Earl Bamber clipping the front-left of Sean Gelael’s #31 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 on the Kemmel Straight, during which he was on the tail of Jani for the lead battle.
“That was the best weekend so far for Proton Competition’s Porsche 963,” said Andlauer.
“Our preparations went really well in the practice sessions for the first time this season.
“The setup was right, so were the tyres, strategy and energy management – the rest was pure racing.
“After the red flag, we initially slipped from third to ninth place.
“In the last two hours, I tried to make up as much ground as possible and gave it my all. But I couldn’t do any better than fifth place.
“Now we’re hugely motivated for the upcoming highlight of the year.”
From third on the grid, Andlauer had a strong start at the beginning as he overtook Alex Lynn’s #2 Cadillac and, soon afterwards, the #5 Porsche Penske 963 of Frederic Makowiecki.
He built his lead at the front of the field with promising pace ahead of the works Porsches, who were tasking with fending off their positions from rivals behind.
The only hiccup for the #99 was during the second hour, when Jani seemingly struggled to shut his door whilst driving around, though he solved the issue with the help of his Proton team via team radio.
He restarted the #99’s recovery for their large gap after a safety car period nulled their efforts, though Jani conducted a good restart with James Calado’s #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P fighting the #5 Porsche with Michael Christensen at the wheel.
After the second full course yellow, the gap at the front had narrowed and Ferrari were truly back in the game, as the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco and Jani (#99) duelled hard for second place.
Jani set the third fastest lap of the race (2:06.531) back on Lap 12, but it was Andlauer’s 2:06.459 on Lap 43 which was a testament to his impressive form even after the red flag pause/race extension.
During the final stint, he made several brave yet cunning moves into the Eau Rouge-Raidillon section: First on Paul-Loup Chatin’s #35 Alpine A424 for P7, then on Brendon Hartley’s #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, as well as an earlier move on Calado.
His final stint saw him charge from P12 after pitting for fresh left-side tyres – though it was a net-position with cars yet to pit in front – which enabled his charge from P9 to P5 by the end as just three Hypercars pitted before the red flag.
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