Campbell Expecting “Big Fight” Between Porsches for GTP Title

Photo: Jordan Lenssen/Porsche

Matt Campbell is predicting a “big fight” between the two Penske Porsche 963s for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title heading into the final three races of the season.

The Australian and co-driver Mathieu Jaminet took over the points lead last time out at Watkins Glen with their fourth place finish, in a race that saw the then championship-leading No. 7 Porsche of Nick Tandy crash out while in changing conditions.

Only 12 points separate the two driving crews ahead of this weekend’s Motul SportsCar Grand Prix at Road America, which will mark the final GTP sprint race of the season.

What’s more, the No. 6 crew hold a sizable 262-point margin over third-placed Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly of Acura Meyer Shank Racing, meaning the championship will likely come down to the two Porsches, unless both hit significant setbacks in the races to come.

“It’s incredibly close between us and the 7,” said Campbell. “For sure there will be a big fight between the two [cars] coming into the end of the year.

“For myself, it’s some of the favorite races I love coming to. To be honest, I’m really excited.

“Petit Le Mans is always a favorite and produces some fantastic racing and I’m sure it’s going to come down to the line there.

“Obviously [there’s also] Road America and Indy. There’s some exciting races to come, which I think will definitely add to the excitement for sure.

“We’ll have to wait and see. We’re certainly not thinking too far ahead, that’s for sure. There’s still three races to go and it’s very easy to lose points.

“We’ve just got to keep being consistent and doing what we’ve been doing and trying to minimize mistakes.

“I think we just need to focus on our own job at hand, especially for myself and Mathieu in Car 6. Hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”

For Felipe Nasr, who along with Tandy opened the season with wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Long Beach, the duo had only finished off the podium once prior to their early end at The Glen.

Nasr, who along with Dane Cameron took Porsche Penske to their first IMSA GTP title last year, stressed that there’s multiple factors at play in the season’s final stretch.

“It’s good that the team is in the position right now that both cars are 1-2 in the championship and most important, of course, is the team and manufacturers championships,” he said.

“We want to keep stretching the gap to the other competitors, so that’s priority No. 1 for us. But at the same time, we had our bad race at Watkins, unfortunately.

“But Car 7 has been strong all year long. We had three wins in a row in the beginning of the year and had been consistent ever since.

“It was just Watkins, it happened that we had our bad one, and looking at the bright side is that we had a bit of gap to play with.

“That gap is kind of gone, but there’s still all to play with three good races to the end, great venues, great race tracks.

“There’s still some endurance races to go as well, which is always fun in this championship when it comes to the longer-distance races.

“I’m excited and looking forward to it.”

Kuratle Reiterates No Team Orders for Championship Stretch 

Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle stressed that team orders will not be in place, as has historically been the case within the factory program.

“Is it a challenge? No,” he said. “There’s the famous speech before the race to all the drivers; every team is doing the same thing; always part of it is that we don’t want to see any contact between the two Porsches.

“We have very professional drivers and a pit crew that will be handled in a correct way, as it had been last year and this year in many occasions.

“I don’t see an extra challenge on this one, to be fair, as long as a Porsche wins, we are happy.”

Kuratle added: “Team orders are always an ugly thing.

“Sometimes it makes sense to tell the drivers that the guy behind [has] new tires or something like that, and if you are in an offset strategy situation to remind them that the team colleague at the back is faster, and for the time being, he should let him overtake.

“These are scenarios in a race. Most of the teams find themselves sometimes to be in that situation. But no, there’s no need yet.

“If the championship is decided between the 6 and the 7 in the last lap at Road Atlanta, as long as there’s no contact between the cars, we don’t have a problem with it.”

John Dagys

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