Porsche Penske Motorsport scores phenomenal IMSA 1-2 at Road America
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A stunning drive from both cars saw the #6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy lead home Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr’s #7 at Road America.
In an incredible back-to-front drive from the two
Jaminet’s car was given a drive-through penalty early on for contact with the #31 Cadillac, and he had to go to the back of the pack in the class before using fantastic strategy to fight back to the front.
Jaminet held off Nasr in the closing stages in a display of what IMSA racing is all about, with almost the whole GTD and GTD Pro field creating a log jam of traffic and with the charging #10 Acura car - which had led most of the race - threatening Porsche supremacy out front.
Dane Cameron had qualified the #7 ninth after going off track multiple times in qualifying, and also dropped to the back of the field after topping off with fuel and requiring a new rear-end bodywork in a pitstop.
But he charged through to extend the #7 car’s championship lead to 100 points, with the #6 now jumping to second in the championship with its second win of the year and the fourth for the Porsche 963.
Porsche also holds an 89-point lead in the manufacturer championship after its first 1-2 of the season, with only two races left in 2024, and four 963 finished in the top six in this event.
Story of the race
Despite the team winning this race with the #7 last year, Tandy in the #6 was the best Porsche Penske Motorsport qualifier in seventh this year.
However, his drive-through for contact with the #31 at Turn 6 on the first lap immediately undid that advantage as the car went to the back of the field, and the #7 set about trying to undo its poor qualifying to rebound.
Five cautions in total opened up the strategy opportunities, and both cars were able to move forwards after excellent execution by the team.
A caution the lap after Tandy had taken his drive through on lap six allowed him to rejoin the back of the GTP pack, and further cautions led to some cars pitting, allowing the #7 and #6 cars to move closer to the top five.
Both cars stopped just over 30 minutes into the race, and then again with around 1 hour and 40 minutes to go, with the #6 and the #7 dropped back after a second, longer stop to top off with fuel and change the tail bodywork after being hit earlier in the race.
With Jaminet taking over the #6, he had moved up to third following his stop, and made quick work of passing the #5 Proton Competition car to take second, which became the lead when the leading #10 car stopped under caution with 27 minutes to go.
While it had taken the lead, it meant that Jaminet would have to go an hour and a half to the end of the race since his last pitstop. Nasr had stopped to top off so had a bit more freedom to push, and had jumped to fourth with just over 50 minutes to go.
After the final caution, Nasr gained a spot due to the #10 pitting, and then hounded the #31 car for second, taking the position with just under 20 minutes remaining.
Nasr pushed Jaminet hard all the while, guarding from the #31 and then charging #10 cars, while fighting through a chaotic logjam of traffic as the frenetic leaders caught the GT runners.
Luckily for Jaminet, he finished with just 5% remaining to pull off a memorable win, his and Tandy’s second after Laguna Seca.
“We had a couple of contacts in the last laps, I touched quite a few cars,” Jaminet said.
“That was pure IMSA-style racing. This is why we love it; this is why we want to come back every time.
“You can be nowhere the day before, and nowhere at the start of the race, and two hours later, you come back with a big trophy.
“Big thanks to the team to pull out the strategy, to put the numbers together.”
Nasr and Cameron now have 2386 points, exactly 100 clear of the #6 car and with a gap of 185 to the nearest non-Porsche challenger in third position.
Customer racing
Gianmaria Bruni and Bent Viscaal gave the Proton Competition Mustang Sampling #5 car its most notable event of the season, fighting for the win for the majority of the race.
Bruni qualified the #5 car in a season’s best fourth place, and took third with a brilliant move around the outside of Turns 1, 2 and 3, which gave him the inside line for Turn 4 and 5 where he took the spot.
Bruni pitted early and remained third, but that proved to be a net lead once those cars ahead had pitted.
The key moment of the race came on the restart with just over an hour to go when Bent Viscaal, having taken that car over at the previous stop, was passed on the run to Turn 1 by the pole-sitting #10 car and lost another three spots shortly after before consolidating fifth.
Viscaal held on to that spot to claim a third top-five of the season for the team.
The #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports car started by Richard Westbrook had a nightmare race as it was punted off the road by the #40 car early on, and later contact with a GT car earned Westbrook a stop-and-hold penalty in the pits.
Tijmen van der Helm took over with a lot of work to do and made the most of some late-race action to move up to sixth overall making it four 963s in the top six.
GTD & GTD Pro
The GTD Pro championship-leading #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R of AO Racing claimed a fourth-place finish to continue a strong run of form, even with a new driver behind the wheel in Julien Andlauer.
The number 77 - switching from its famous green ‘Rexy’ livery to the pink-based ‘Roxy’ - qualified 10th with Andlauer, but a decision to stay out when a host of other cars pitted at the lap eight caution allowed him to jump up the order and into second in class.
After its first stop and with a driver change as Laurin Heinrich took over, the car ran fourth from that point on, a position it held until the finish.
The team now has a 76-point advantage in the championship having only one result outside of the top six this season in a stacked class full of tough opposition.
In the GTD class, the #86 MDK Motorsports car of Anders Fjordbach and Kerong Li was the top Porsche finisher in 10th, with the #120 Wright Motorsports car of Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson not finishing in 13th after damage received inside the last hour while running in the top 10.
“With the great success at Road America, we have further improved our position in the championship and are now heading into the last two races of the year in high spirits,” said Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport.
“Many thanks to the team for the perfect strategy and to the drivers for their strong performances under very difficult conditions.
“My thanks also go to all the employees at the development centre in Weissach and to our fantastic partners who always support us to the maximum.
“A compliment also goes to our customer teams who once again put in an impressive performance at Elkhart Lake.”
The GTP teams head to Indianapolis next for the Battle on the Bricks on September 22 at the famed Speedway where Team Penske has 20 wins in the Indianapolis 500. The GTD Pro and GTD cars will be in action sooner, at Virginia International Raceway on August 25.
The World Endurance Championship team will also be heading Stateside soon, for the Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas on September 1.