Campbell, Nasr Deliver Porsche Penske Win at Road America

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr delivered Porsche Penske Motorsport’s second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season in Sunday’s largely caution-free race at Road America.

Nasr drove the No. 7 Porsche 963 to a 4.635-second win over the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist, who nearly erased the once 15-plus second gap in the final stanza of the two-hour and 40-minute contest.

Having inherited pole after an accident in warmup for the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, Campbell stretched out into a commanding lead early on.

Nasr maintained the advantage until the final round of pit stops when the No. 7 Porsche took on new left-side Michelin tires only and a full energy replenishment, which ultimately saw the car slip into the grips of Blomqvist, but still pull off the win.

It marked the first victory for the No. 7 crew following the sister squad’s triumph on the streets of Long Beach in April.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor took over the GTP class championship lead with a third place finish.

Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais were fourth in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, which gradually faded during the two-hour and 17-minute green flag run to the finish.

JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm completed the top-five, ahead of the No. 31 Action Express Cadillac that started from the rear of the GTP starting field after missing the recon lap due to Alexander Sims’ accident in warm up.

Sims also spun during the race in the second hour, relegating the car to sixth.

The No. 6 Penske Porsche was seventh after suffering a right-rear puncture early on followed by a second unscheduled stop to replace the car’s rear deck.

Proton Competition’s debuting No. 59 Porsche of Gimmi Bruni and Harry Tincknell was classified eighth after a day to forget for BMW M Team RLL, which saw both of its BMW M Hybrid V8s retire.

Connor De Phillippi first beached his No. 25 car on the pace lap before slamming into the wall at the Kink early on, resulting in an eventual retirement, while Philipp Eng ground to a halt with issues later in the race.

LMP2 class honors went to the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson of Paul-Loup Chatin and Ben Keating, who have provisionally retaken the points lead following late-race issues for the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry.

Chatin was in control from the final round of stops, finishing 9.5 seconds clear of second-placed Giedo van der Garde in the rebuilt No. 35 TDS Racing Oreca. The French squad’s sister No. 11 car completed the podium in third.

The No. 74 Riley Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Gar Robinson and Josh Burdon, meanwhile, picked up the class win in LMP3, in a race that was largely led by the class pole-sitting No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsport Ligier of Nico Pino and Joao Barbosa that came home second.

The Heart of Racing Goes Back-to-Back in GTD Pro

Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas gave The Heart of Racing its second consecutive win in GTD Pro, benefitting from a drive-through penalty for the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD in the closing stages.

Gunn in the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 crossed the line ahead of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Ben Barnicoat following a late-race stop from the then-second placed No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Jules Gounon.

The No. 3 Corvette of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia was classified third after the Spaniard dashed to the pits with 22 minutes to go for a drive-through due to not adhering to the minimum refueling time on its last stop.

Garcia and Gunn had previously been in a hard-fought battle for the lead before the Corvette’s penalty.

Paul Miller Racing, meanwhile, picked up GTD class honors for the fourth time this season, with Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers extending their championship lead as a result.

Snow, who started the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3, got back into the car for the closing stint and held off the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Frederik Schandorff, who finished 2.261 seconds behind in second.

It marked a career-best result for Schandorff and his Bronze-rated co-driver Brendan Iribe, who held second during a flawless opening stint.

Several cars, including the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports with WTR Andretti Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Mario Farnbacher, gambled on fuel and dropped down the running order after making late-race stops.

RESULTS: Road America

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