Nasr Believes There’s “Still More to Come” With Porsche 963

Photo: Nick Dungan/Porsche

Felipe Nasr believes there’s still more potential to be unlocked in the Porsche 963 ahead of the car’s street course debut in this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Nasr and No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport co-driver Matt Campbell head into the third round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season seeking their first podium finish after the Brazilian got collected in a late-race accident in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring that took out the top three GTP class entries.

“It’s still a long way; the championship has just begun,” said Nasr who along with Campbell sit sixth in GTP points. “We had a decent run in Sebring until my car was up in the air. There was nothing I could have done differently.

“I tried to avoid it the best I could, that accident, but I just got hit from behind and pushed into the accident.

“Long Beach is a new challenge for everybody but I’m looking forward [to it]. It’s one of those places that I really like driving the car itself. You really have to put it to the maximum there to get yourself to the front, especially in qualifying.”

The 2021 DPi champion said he hopes for a similar level of progression from the step taken between the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona to Sebring, which saw the pair of factory Porsches contend for the win.

“I think we’ve been having a lot of progress over the last two races,” Nasr said. “I think Sebring highlighted, in terms of pace and performance, that the car was a lot more competitive, especially during the last hours of the race.

“We could really see that the No. 7 and No. 6 [Porsches] were fighting up front.

“I cannot say it’s perfect yet. I feel there is still a lot of things we’re learning on the go. It’s a new car, it’s a new team putting everything together, understanding things car-wise, setup-wise what is best.

“Throwing in Long Beach, it’s going to be a whole new challenge for everybody to make the most out of the package itself.

“I see a lot of progression. That’s what really makes me enthusiastic about it. I feel like there’s still more to come. But we just have to keep to shifting forward.

“I want to see that rate of progression that we saw from Daytona to Sebring. Clearly there was a step forward so we just have to continue on that.”

Full-Time Prototype Return Like “Going Back Home”

Nasr described his return to the top class of the WeatherTech Championship like “going back home” after spending last year in the GTD Pro class for the Michelin Endurance Cup races with Pfaff Motorsports and racing in LMP2 with Team Penske in the opening half of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

“It’s where I’ve done most of my career in the last few years, since I left Formula 1 and got into prototype racing in 2018,” he said of the WeatherTech Championship’s top prototype class.

“For me the transition was easy to come to GTP, the evolution from DPi. But it was also fun to drive some GT races for Porsche. It put me in a whole new challenge perspective as well.

“It was something I hadn’t done before. For me personally as a driver, to get the understanding and to see a new environment, a new driving style, different competitors around and going the other way around was a lot of fun.

“I could see myself getting better and better as well. We got a Rolex win on my first ever race for Porsche and then in [Road] Atlanta as well, in the final race I did for them in 2022, we could see as well the potential was there.

“As a driver, I’m always trying to learn whenever I jump in a race car. While I was having fun, it was great to see the progression there.

“Now it’s time to make the Porsche 963 car a winner and that’s where my full focus is, so I’m looking forward to this weekend.”

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