Ben Keating: “The future of WEC is extremely bright”
The two-time LMGTE Am World Champion from Texas returns for Lone Star Le Mans, round 6 of the 2024 FIA WEC season, to drive Proton Competition’s No. 88 Ford Mustang.
When the 2024 FIA WEC calendar was revealed, announcing the return of elite sportscars racing at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for Lone Star Le Mans on 1 September, Ben Keating admitted he would have hated to miss WEC’s North American round held in his native Texas.
“I’m so excited to know that I don’t have to!”, the 53-year-old racing driver told fiawec.com.
The two-time LMGTE Am champion with TF Sport (2022) and Corvette Racing (2023) is indeed making a return to the FIA WEC grid for his home race. He will drive Proton Competition’s No. 88 Ford Mustang GT3 alongside factory driver Dennis Olsen and Mikkel Pedersen. For the first four FIA WEC rounds, Giorgio Roda was the entry’s mandatory bronze-rated driver. Team owner Christian Ried stood in last time out for the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo.
“I got a message from Christian asking if I wanted to do the last part of the season”, Ben reveals. “I told him I was not able to, but I would love to do COTA if I could. That’s how we figured it out.”
Ben’s record at Austin speaks for itself. He won three of the last four races held there in IMSA’s GTD class. He also won the 2019 24 Hours of COTA. “That was the first time I’ve won an overall race, and also the last time I’ve raced there. I always like the tracks that like me back and COTA has been one of those tracks that I’ve been very successful at.”
Ben intends to not put too high of an expectation on the No. 88 entry, as he is yet to drive the black and gold Ford Mustang. “I’ve got a really good relationship with Ford. I grew up working at a Ford dealership, I raced in Le Mans in 2019 with a Ford GT. I’m tempering my expectations of what we’re going to be able to do with the car, but that doesn’t dampen my excitement to drive it. I don’t expect to hop in this car and to dominate, but it’s going to be fun to be there regardless.”
“WEC’s competition level is higher than it has ever been in its history”
After winning the final GTE Am title in 2023, Keating bid his farewell to FIA WEC. This year, he has been competing full-time in IMSA’s LMP2 category with United Autosports. He even took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the team’s Oreca 07 No. 23 entry. He also drove the Porsche 963 in IMSA’s premier GTP category in the 24 Hours of Daytona. Now, he’s set for another mid-season machinery switch, and he’s definitely looking forward to it. “That is something I have never really had a big issue with. I won’t be expected to squeeze the last few tenths of a second out of the car when I first jump into it, but I don't expect to be that far off. And I don’t expect the Mustang to have that big of a difference to what I’ve been driving. I raced GT3 cars for seven years from 2014 to 2020.”
Ben has lauded the steps taken by FIA WEC to improve the series’ competitiveness and its appeal to the world’s greatest carmakers, notably in switching from the GTE to the GT3 FIA technical platform. “I have been very impressed with what WEC has done in their first year of having two classes, and it’s going to be even better as the years move on. WEC’s competition level is higher than it has been in its history. The future is extremely bright. I really love WEC racing, its format, its rules and its competitors.”
Ben Keating, who turned 53 on August 18, has lifted the lid on what racing means for him as a successful owner of one the largest car dealership groups in the United States. “There’s something about both my choice in business and my choice in recreation, it just feeds my soul to be at the highest level of competition. Everybody owes it to do whatever it is that gives them energy and keeps them young at heart. This is what racing is for me.”
