Celebrating WEC’s Ever-Present – Christian Ried!

He’s one of the most familiar faces in any WEC paddock, and Christian Ried is also the only driver to have participated in all 78 WEC races, a unique feat over the last decade.

A studious and diligent organiser, motivator and racer, Ried has been a central pillar in WEC’s history since the very first race at Sebring in 2012.

All of Ried’s starts have been in Porsches, for five team names: four of these as part of his Proton outfit Felbermayr-Proton, Proton Competition, Abu Dhabi-Proton and Dempsey-Proton, plus one season with KCMG. 

He has finished 70 races, retired from six, and been disqualified from a further two, for a remarkable 90% classification rate. Only Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda have won more races in GTE Am than Ried’s 12. 

12 wins by Ried is the joint-most by German drivers, level with Timo Bernhard, alongside Ried’s 12 wins, he has finished on the podium in 23 other races, for a 45% podium rate in total. 

The five wins achieved in 2018/19 by Ried and Matt Campbell is the joint-most in a single GTE Am campaign, the same total achieved by the aforementioned Lamy/Dalla Lana/Lauda trio in 2017. 
Ried’s most-recent win at the 6 Hours of Monza last July. This became the 10th different circuit he has won at and the German is the only WEC driver to win a six hour race, an eight hour race, a 12 hour race and a 24 hour race. 

Ried has twice finished 2nd in the GTE Am standings, in 2017 and 2018/19, and along with Julien Andlauer and Matt Campbell led an unbelievable 300 laps en route to Le Mans victory in 2018, which is the most laps a GTE Am winner has led for. 

15 of Porsche’s 22 GTE Am wins have been achieved by Ried’s Proton outfit, under the Felbermayr-Proton, Dempsey-Proton and Abu Dhabi-Proton banners.

But beyond all the amazing statistics is a man born to race, one who has endurance racing in his blood. His father Gerold was a well-known driver who founded the Proton Competition squad in 1996, the same year that Christian began seriously racing.

Although he is yet to lift the WEC title, he is a double European Le Mans series champion, taking a pair of heroic crowns in 2020 and earlier this year when he combined with Gianmaria Bruni and Lorenzo Ferrari.

Ried Ready Reckonings

Ried sits second in the all-time GTE Am podium standings, with 35 in total - scoring at least one in each WEC season. 35 podiums is the joint-most by German drivers, tied with 2023 Porsche stablemate Andre Lotterer.
Ried won the series’ first 12 hour race, and its first 8 hour race, both of these coming at Sebring in 2012 and 2019 respectively.
 

Look below to see more of Christian Ried in action over the past ten years. 

With thanks to 'Magic Alex' WECData