Vanthoor on “Pretty Unique Day” in Last-Minute Double Duty

Photo: Porsche

Laurens Vanthoor said his last-minute call-up to pull double duty in Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans and help Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title went ‘a lot smoother than expected.’

The Belgian drove both Penske Porsche 963s in the ten-hour season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta when originally scheduled No. 6 third driver Julien Andlauer was forced out due to “severe back pain” less than two hours before the start of the race.

After being evaluated by multiple doctors at the track, Andlauer, who wrote on social media, took an immediate flight back home to France for further evaluation, although it left the factory GTP squad in a bind, with no reserve driver on-site to keep its title chances alive.

“Julien was pretty gutted to be in the situation he was in this morning,” said Porsche Racing President Jonathan Diuguid. “But it was a pretty hectic hour before the start of the race, to be honest.

“My hat’s off to (IMSA President) John Doonan and Beaux (Barfield) and Paul Walter and everybody that made themselves available to help work through that difficult situation to change the driver last minute.

“Larry, honestly, stuck his hand up when it started going the wrong direction and said, ‘Hey, I’ll do whatever you guys need to do.’”

Vanthoor added: “It was a pretty unique day for me in that way. I think one hour in the race they told me, ‘Larry, you’re next.’ I said, ‘Which car?’ ‘We don’t know yet.’

“That was kind of how the day went.

“In the end, there was no time to think about it. I just wanted to help Matt and Mathieu and the team.

“Mathieu gave me the car in the lead. [It was my] first time in the 6 [car] this weekend, and I was hoping to not make a mistake [or] mess up the championship.

“It was a day for me to help them and not make mistakes, and I’m happy I could help a little part.

“[I’m] very happy to have been a part of the success of Porsche Penske. I think it’s quite impressive, so it’s an honor to be a part of it.”

Vanthoor admitted he didn’t even think about the added pressure he was faced with in having to jump in the championship-leading No. 6 Porsche without any previous time in that car.

“Now in hindsight maybe, but I was just trying to do the best that I could in the situation,” he said.

“[I’m] very, very happy for both of them that they managed to pull this off and I could help 1 percent.”

Porsche Penske’s planning for contingencies, as in this case, paid off on Saturday, as both cars were equipped with the same base seat, with eliminated the need to make a new seat, which wouldn’t have been possible in the timeframe, or create a make-shift situation at the last minute.

“My inserts fitted in that seat,” said Vanthoor. “It’s a Porsche 963. [The No. 6 car] was a bit different. There are different ways of applying some tools, some software, but I felt comfortable in the car from the first laps.

“It actually went a lot smoother than you would think and than you would expect.”

Diuguid added: “In general, that’s the strength of the group we have.

“I think Jaminet has the base seat for everybody, so we can swap seats from car to car without major issues. Larry was ready to go and jumped in and did a great job.”

Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle added that the race became a “mathematical game” in terms of driving times between drivers and the two cars.

While Vanthoor was required a minimum of 45 minutes in each car, he, more importantly, wasn’t permitted to exceed driving four hours in a six-hour period combined between both cars.

“From that point, it was just management between the 6 and the 7 cars of the drive time,” added Diuguid.

“Obviously the 6 car did a more conventional driver rotation, but in the end I don’t think it affected the 7 car negatively in either way.”

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