Despite losing their grip on the championship lead, Dempsey-Proton Racing remain focused on the GTE AM title in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship after finishing the 6 hours of Shanghai in third place in their Porsche 911 RSR.
Team Owner and Technical Director, Michael Ried was happy to remain in the running for the championship, but disapointed that the team could not make the most of the opportunity at Shanghai International Circuit, “With this result, we have maintained our title opportunity.” said Michael Ried. “But we can not be completely satisfied. Our backlog on this track was a bit too big. We will analyze the race closely and then draw the necessary conclusions to fight for victory again in Bahrain. Whether it will then also enough to win the title, we will see.”
Christian Ried comes away from the race weekend with one clear goal in site, “After this race there can be only one motto for the season finale in Bahrain: full on attack!
“We will do our utmost to crown this successful season by winning the FIA Endurance Trophy. Shanghai was certainly not our best race this season. But that will not change the motivation of our team – on the contrary” he added.
Matteo Cairoli explained how the team had struggle with tyre issues throughout the weekend, which ultimately led to a lack of speed compare to the class front-runners. “Third place is a good result, even though we lost our lead in the FIA Endurance Trophy. But it will be billed after the season finale in Bahrain.” said Cairoli.
Marvin Dienst added, “Somehow we were able to do what we wanted – it was just not enough to be at the front. Now we are fully focused on Bahrain. There we will try to make it better again. I hope we succeed.”
