For a historic second season in a row, Porsche Penske Motorsport sealed the drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship titles with Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet taking a podium at Petit Le Mans.
Last year it was the #7 car taking the titles, but Campbell and Jaminet - assisted in this race by Laurens Vanthoor after a surprise and forced move - finished on the podium at the prestigious 10-hour race at Road Atlanta to seal the title and help Porsche Penske Motorsport to seal a string of successes.
It was a magnificent strategy move that skyrocketed the #6 up the order in the early running, pitting just before the caution with Campbell before Jaminet delivered two stunning, lead-extending stints.
The lead was lost in the second half of the race and a late pitstop for fuel cost the #6 second, but it mattered little in the titles and championships that the team sealed with speed and consistency over the season.
The #7 of Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Vanthoor fought hard all day and bounced back from two front-end changes to run fifth with less than five laps to go before contact with a competitor dropped it back to 10th at the finish.
In customer racing, the #85 JDC Miller MotorSports 963 of Max Esterson, Neel Jani and Tijmen van der Helm had very impressive debutante, but incidents ultimately meant it finished 12th.
The #88 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 (992) of Klaus Bachler, Michael Christensen and Laurin Heinrich suffered two separate incidents to finish eighth in GTD Pro, while the GTD #120 Wright Motorsports car of Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Tom Sargent came sixth in class.
Story of the race
There was drama even before the race started as Julien Andlauer withdrew from his role as the third driver in the #6 car due to a medical emergency, meaning Laurens Vanthoor unusually drove as the third driver in both the #7 and #6 cars through the race.
It was an excellent display of teamwork from Vanthoor.
A caution almost immediately after the race start was indicative of the first third of the race with lengthy interruptions for incidents, but with a 10-hour race to contend with, Porsche Penske Motorsport and its drivers focused on staying out of trouble and being consistent.
Campbell pulled off an excellent first stint as, although he was left out on track when a caution came out in the early running, he wasn’t phased and overtook multiple cars. He was then rewarded with retribution as he and the PPM team picked the perfect moment to pit just before a caution came out, jumping into the lead.
With Jaminet taking over, twice he built leads of between eight and 12 seconds from his rivals after pitstops and led well through the halfway mark despite challenges from multiple cars and manufacturers.
The charge was only halted by losing two spots under caution with four hours to go, with Vanthoor running third having had a stint in the lead himself.
The #7 spent most of the first half of the race struggling to bounce back from needing to swap a nose after the splitter received damage in the opening few hours. Nasr, Vanthoor and Tandy all drove well and remained out of trouble to tee up a bid to move forward in the final four hours.
The #7 did just that. While the #6 jumped up to second and set about reeling in the leader, the #7 stopped early just before two hours to go and used the power of the undercut to jump up to third.
It meant a huge gain in track position, but less fuel than its rivals and that would mean an extra stop later in the race.
It then lost two positions and had to stop with just over an hour and a half to go for another new nose, which put the car a lap down.
In the #6 Campbell maintained second with his stop on the two-hour-to-go mark, but lost time after a spun LMP2 car forced him to hammer the brakes in avoiding action before getting back up to speed unscathed, four seconds adrift, and halved that in under four laps.
While Nasr did his stop for that new nose and as the race ticked into the final hour and a half, Campbell finally got the lead gap under one second.
But he couldn’t find a way past and remained behind through the penultimate stint.
The final stint was tense, as every competitor needed to save fuel to make it to the end, meaning any pursuit of the leader had to be put on hold to save the necessary energy to make the finish.
Jaminet followed the leader into the pits for a late splash-and-go for fuel and came out two places lower in fourth, and claimed one position back as another car ahead had to stop.
The #7 was running fifth and set to take second in the championship, but contact dropped it to 10th, finishing third in the championship having been in the top two all year.
After winning the first four races of the year, PPM and its drivers have remained consistent and won almost every championship available.
As well as the drivers', teams' and manufacturers' points, Porsche also sealed the equivalent titles in the Michelin Endurance Cup for the longer races, which are prestigious in their own right.
With the IMSA season now finished, Porsche Penske Motorsport still has racing to do this year. The team heads to Bahrain on November 8 for the finale of the World Endurance Championship.
Customer racing
JDC Miller MotorSports had one of its best races of the season in terms of competitiveness, with new driver Max Esterson a particular highlight of the event as he steered the #85 into the top four on legitimate pace in the early running.
But with all eyes on the sun going down and staying in contention for the crucial last hour, the #85 was hit by the #25 BMW - which received a drive-through penalty for responsibility - but the resulting spin really hurt the #85’s race.
It dropped a lap down not long after and as the only GTP car a lap down, and with a lack of cautions in the second half of the race, it was tough to fight back.
It went further laps down and finished 12th overall, but can be proud of the efforts throughout the day.
The same can be said for the #77 in GTD Pro and #120 in GTD.
In the hands of Heinrich and with the excellent timing of the AO Racing pit crew the #77 was hoisted into the GTD Pro lead inside the first two hours, but after four hours the car was muscled out of the lead dropping two spots, and fell steadily down the order after that.
Christensen and Bachler did their best but on such a narrow track and amid heavy traffic, picking up positions was tough.
With 2 hours and 19 minutes to go, the #77 was pushed off track by the #04 LMP2 car which cost it further time and bodywork on its special skeleton, Halloween paint scheme. Two laps were lost while repairs including a new rear bumper were carried out.
It’s been a really strong season of learning for the #120 Wright Motorsports crew and while the sixth place finish wasn’t what the team wanted, it did an excellent job in delivering consistency across the race when many others struggled to do so.
The trio of Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Tom Sargent did their best to extract the maximum and spent most of the day in the second half of the top 10.
It took a handful of positions during and after the final stop to take sixth in the race - which looked unlikely in the early running but reflects their battling spirit - and sixth in the championship, too.
