Two-time endurance racing world champion Ben Keating will return to the series for his home race in Austin next month.
Keating will join the Proton Competition Ford team within the LMGT3 race at Circuit of the Americas on September 1, his first appearance in an everyday WEC race since leaving the series after winning his second GTE Am title last 12 months.
The 52-year-old American will race the No. 88 Ford Mustang GT3 alongside works driver Dennis Olsen and Mikkel Pedersen.
He takes his place because the compulsory bronze category driver within the LMGT3 team, which was filled by Giorgio Roda for the primary 4 races and, in July at Interlagos, by then-team principal Christian Ried.
The GTE Am title winners with Corvette Racing and TF Sport Aston Martin in 2022 and 2023 respectively have opted to not pursue a hat-trick of WEC GT titles this 12 months in the primary LMGT3 season.
Last September, he told Motorsport.com that in 2024 he would love to cut back his racing activities and deal with a single program within the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America.
#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating
Photo: JEP / Motorsports images
Keating explained that the rationale for his decision was the time constraints related to the WEC calendar being prolonged by one race.
However, he’s returning to the WEC, the series he competed in in the course of the 2019-20 season, for a neighborhood race in what he expects will likely be a one-off event.
Keating's dealership network is predicated in Texas and includes quite a few Ford dealerships throughout the state.
His participation within the 24 Hours of Le Mans WEC race in June was a part of his programme with United Autosports within the LMP2 class in IMSA, where he’s in search of a 3rd title after triumphing in 2021 and 2022 with the PR1/Mathiasen team.
The only other change to the WEC line-up for Austin, released on Wednesday, is the return of Harry Tincknell to Team Proton’s Hypercar-class Porsche 963 LMDh.
The Briton missed Interlagos because, as a Ford works driver, his IMSA GT Daytona Pro campaign with the Multimatic Motorsports team took priority and he as an alternative contested the Canadian round of the North American series at Mosport.
#64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Harry Tincknell, Mike Rockenfeller
Photo: Jake Galstad / Motorsports images
Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer raced this automotive as a duo in Brazil.
Competition on the track on the Lone Star Le Mans WEC round in Austin will begin on August 30 at 12:40 local time.
