Ben Keating will scale back his involvement in FIA World Endurance Championship or IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as a full-time competitor next season, shifting his focus toward selective one-off appearances.
The 55-year-old Texan, regarded as one of the premier FIA Bronze-rated drivers, has been a mainstay of both series, making his IMSA debut in 2011 before entering the WEC field in 2019, and he has secured four class titles across the LMP2 and GT categories throughout that period.
Keating conveyed to Sportscar365 that he now wishes to “go out and do whatever sounds fun” rather than lock himself into a full-season commitment, noting that there are “other ways I want to spend my time.”
Nevertheless, he emphasized there are no plans to retire from racing “because I love it.”
“I hope to race at Daytona and perhaps Sebring and Le Mans, but with how deep the fields have become in full-season programs, finding a seat is really challenging,” he explained.
“If I’m able to secure a seat for those races, that would be fantastic — if not, so be it.”
“Beyond that, I’m eager to participate in some historic racing and plan to do significantly more Chump Car events.”
“I also own a 1970 Ford Mustang and a 1996 Acura Integra which I race in those series, and the enjoyment-to-cost ratio is very favorable, so I aim to do more of that.”
Keating also hinted at an interest in tackling off-road racing, with his daughter serving as navigator.
However, his immediate objective is to help TF Sport’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R teammate Jonny Edgar secure the WEC LMGT3 championship.
Having missed the opening two rounds due to elbow surgery following a pre-season mountain-biking accident, Keating is not in the running for the title himself, but the season has still been memorable, highlighted by his third Le Mans class victory, and he is determined to finish strongly.
“I love Fuji, I love Barcelona, I love Monza—their six-hour format means there are fewer points available,” he noted.
“At the start of the year, Corvette Racing or GM asked whether, if given a choice, you would pick winning the championship or winning Le Mans; I replied that you always choose Le Mans.”
“Now that we’ve had the chance to check that box, our goal is to win the championship for Jonny.”
Keating currently sits third in the standings, but he believes the prospect of Edgar, Nicky Catsburg, and himself completing a 1-2-3—having competed in different rounds—will be “extremely difficult.”
The trio failed to score in last weekend’s 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas while still bearing significant success ballast from Le Mans, and Keating is now tied on points with the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo crew of Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and Francois Heriau in third.
Ironically, Keating clashed with the sister No. 54 Ferrari driven by Thomas Flohr early in the race.
“I still think we could have had a decent race if we hadn’t been hit twice by the same driver,” Keating said after finishing 12th at COTA.
