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WeatherTech Championship

Brake Lock Up “Compromised” Race Strategy for No. 6 Porsche

Mathieu Jaminet reveals brake lock-up forced strategy change to No. 6 Penske Porsche 963…

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Brake lock-ups for both Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP entries at the start of the Motul Course de Monterey powered by Hyundai N “compromised” the strategy for the pair of factory Porsche 963s according to Mathieu Jaminet.

Jaminet and co-driver Nick Tandy rallied to a second place finish in Sunday’s round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to extend their points lead in the drivers’ championship, although it came in an up-and-down race for the No. 6 Porsche.

While having initially dropped to third after a front row start, the Frenchman revealed that the lock-up forced a change of strategy in having to take fresh Michelin tires on the first pit stop.

GTP class competitors were limited to only three sets of tires between qualifying and the two-hour and 40-minute race.

“Unfortunately we had a tough start. Both Matt [Campbell] and myself having huge lock ups going into Turn 1,” Jaminet said.

“From there on, I had two front tires that were completely dead. This compromised our race because we had to take tires early on because we couldn’t drive them any more.”

Jaminet, who lost track position due to the full service stop, handed the car over to Tandy in seventh while under the race’s second yellow.

“Nick pretty much did all the job in the end,” he said. “I just hit my number on energy and tried to save when I was behind and passed the BMW.

“From there Nick went in and with the team we had quick pit stops and in the end he passed the two cars and made us come home to P2 and keep the lead in the championship.

“It was a very eventful day but when you come home in P2 and extend the lead in the championship, it’s a great day as well.”

Tandy added: “It was a fun race. I tried to put some pressure on Renger a bit towards the end but when I got past Alex and really started to push. The more I pushed, the slower I got.

“The tire deg is clearly a factor when we are putting all this power through the rear tires on the GTP cars. But this sort of race throws up different things and makes it interesting.

“Mathieu did a great recovery to look after the car and get us in a position where we could then work strategy.”

The sister No. 7 Porsche didn’t fare as well, with pole-sitter Matt Campbell having nearly dropped off the lead lap early on after being handed incident responsibility for contact with the No. 94 Andretti Autosport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Jarett Andretti.

It was followed by an accident from co-driver Felipe Nasr in the second hour that resulted in the loss of eight laps due to repairs.

“Obviously, that wasn’t what we had hoped for,” the Brazilian said. “Our No. 7 crew deserved better. We had the pace to fight for victory. That was obvious in the qualifying and race.

“I’m sorry that I crashed. After the restart, I saw the chance to grab two positions at once. I gave it everything, the rear of my car got away from me – that was it. I had no chance of catching the car.”

After topping both practice sessions and sweeping the front row in qualifying, Porsche factory LMDh director Urs Kuratle was left with mixed feelings over the result.

“We had both cars on the front grid row, so second place in the race is not what we had hoped for,” he said. “We fought our way back well with car No. 6.

“We need to learn from the things that happened to us today with the sister car.

“The team did a great job. Our strategy was promising. We did well at Laguna Seca this weekend. Our success is thanks to consistent progress.”

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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