Nasr Feels PPM is Running in “Separate Championship”

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Felipe Nasr admitted he feels like he’s running in a “separate championship” compared to the other GTP entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since Porsche Penske Motorsport’s historic ‘Florida 36 Hours’ sweep.

The Brazilian, who anchored the team’s third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona victory in January and also took the No. 7 Porsche 963 to top honors in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, has yet to return to the podium in the four races since.

Nasr and co-driver Julien Andlauer currently sit fourth in the points standings, as the best-placed Porsche Penske driver pairing, although face a nearly insurmountable 258-point deficit to championship leader Jack Aitken with only three GTP races to go.

While the sister No. 6 entry of Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre claimed a third-place result on the streets of Long Beach, the 2024 Hypercar World Endurance drivers champions are sixth in the title race, a further 113 points back.

The challenging middle portion of the season for the two-time and defending GTP championship-winning operation coincided when IMSA separated the Balance of Performance for the latest-generation Porsche, which Penske runs, and the 2025-spec model that privateer squad JDC-Miller utilizes following a pre-season provision made by IMSA.

While not directly commenting on the BoP, which IMSA prohibits competitors from discussing publicly and in the media, Nasr voiced his frustration over their recent lack of performance.

“It’s been a little frustrating this year after Daytona and Sebring,” he told Sportscar365. “I felt like we put in so much effort to have another strong season, which we did start with two incredible victories.

“And then it felt like we’ve been running a separate championship to this point because we cannot match the speed of the other cars in the last four rounds.

“Let’s see, this weekend it’s a six-hour race. I love racing here at Road America; it’s one of my favorite tracks.

“When it comes to endurance, the team, Porsche Penske Motorsport, they have been executing really well. I’m counting on everybody to put their effort in and hopefully be fighting for a top-three here.”

While the JDC-Miller Porsche scored a breakthrough first GTP win for a privateer team at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and was also on the podium last time out at Watkins Glen, its car has run to a lighter minimum weight to the Penske Porsches, which are sporting a significantly different aero package that was rolled out for the start of the season.

Estre summarized the No. 6 car’s season to date: “It started really well. We were on a very high level in terms of execution, performance in Daytona and Sebring.

“After Sebring, it’s been very tough, I have to say. We did a podium in Long Beach but due to good decisions, very aggressive driving, very aggressive strategy.

“But we were not on pace and we were not there.

“Since that, we’ve just been missing pace, missing performance. We execute the race pretty well. I don’t leave so much points on the table.

“In Detroit, in our car, we could have done a podium but somehow we got unlucky with a hit and everything.

“At Watkins, we were fighting for a podium at some point but not enough to have it in the end.

“It’s a bit disappointing, I have to say, because the end of the championship is getting closer and closer and it doesn’t look like we have the momentum to come back.”

Estre Not Giving Up Hope Because of IMSA’s Unpredictability

Despite being winless this year, in what had been one of the pre-season favorites for the championship, Estre has not given up hope on at least being able to pull off a victory or two in the final rounds of the season.

He credits the sometimes unpredictable nature of the WeatherTech Championship, which unlike other series, offers ways for cars to get back into the fight.

“One thing is that it’s IMSA: if you’re way too slow you can’t win a race but if you’re a little too slow and you make the right call and you’re a bit lucky, you can still win a race, which is not the case in other championships,” he said.

“So the motivation is there because we know we have a great team and they always perform at a very high level.

“If we have a shot, we’ll get it.

“For sure, having four races in a row when you fight for P8 in quali and being not even top-six in performance in the race, is not great for the mood.

“We’ll keep it up. The championship is still very long and a lot of points. Endurance points are important as well, manufacturer [points] as well.

“We keep motivated but it’s not easy.”

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