Porsche’s Jaminet, Campbell in “Intense Prep” for Le Mans

Photo: Jurgen Tap/Porsche

Porsche Penske Motorsport drivers Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell are treating the opening two rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship season as “intense prep” for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The two drivers, who race as a pairing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, have completed the team’s full season WEC lineups this year as third pilots, with Jaminet in the No. 5 Porsche 963 alongside Michael Christensen and Julien Andlauer and Campbell aboard the No. 6 car with defending world champions Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor.

Porsche Penske’s slimmed down eight-driver roster has allowed for Jaminet and Campbell to contest selected WEC races, including Friday’s season-opening Qatar 1812km as well as the second round of the season at Imola, in order to better prepare for Le Mans when they will be part of the season-long WEC squad.

For Jaminet, who makes his first WEC start outside of Le Mans this week, the Frenchman is looking forward to gaining the new experience.

“At least for myself, it’s quite a change because definitely the two teams (IMSA and WEC) don’t operate the same way, from what I can see so far,” he told Sportscar365.

“I think we have a lot more time to prepare and go really deep into certain things that you really don’t have time, I think, to go when you do the third car.

“You’re just busy with other things, not only with the engineering group but also drivers.

“That will be interesting to see. I don’t think I’ll be able to do the full prep that my teammates are going to be doing, because of IMSA, but at least I will be a lot more involved in it, in terms of engineering, the WEC guys have a lot of things ongoing.

“It feels like a lot more intense prep and a lot more details in some areas.”

Jaminet’s two previous Le Mans starts with Porsche Penske came in the team’s third IMSA-crewed entry.

“When you show up with the third car, you’re just catching up [until] the last few days before the event on what has happened,” he said.

“Now I will be a little in between both, so it will be interesting. I think it’s really positive.

“There’s always been a history where the cars that do full season [WEC] are slightly more successful than the third car entry, especially with American teams coming over.

“They have such a short time to prepare with different rules and everything. Usually you always have a little better shot of winning when you’re on the full season car.”

Campbell, meanwhile, expressed the importance of this year’s French endurance classic for Porsche Penske, which is seeking its elusive first win in the race.

“Coming to Le Mans, it’s our third year, so we want to have a good result,” he said.

“I think the last two years we’ve been a little bit disappointed and this year there’s a lot more emphasis and pressure from everyone within the Porsche and Penske groups.

“I’m still doing a lot of racing in WEC. The team is not new to me but I do have a new engineering group to get used to on the Car 6 side.

“Obviously I know Kevin and Laurens very well and that’s not really something to get up to speed with.

“It’s more-or-less the working group outside of the car and how they work.

“For sure it’s very different to what I experienced on Car 5 and also there’s been some changes on Car 5’s side since last year.

“Coming here, I felt comfortable straight away and also the group is working well together.”

Campbell downplayed any extra pressure that comes with joining the No. 6 WEC crew, which won the drivers’ world championship last year with Vanthoor, Estre and Andre Lotterer.

“Last year, I was in the situation of being in Car 7 in IMSA, in going for the title at [Road] Atlanta and being with them,” he said.

“For me, the start of the year, [there’s no pressure] at all. For sure it will be their championship as I’ll miss some rounds, and I’ll do everything I can as a third driver.

“But I’m just treating it like any other endurance race.”

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