How did Porsche overcome hectic pre-race preparation to win the IMSA title at Petit Le Mans?

matt campbell And Mathieu Jaminet Petit was the clear favorite to take the IMSA SportsCar Championship drivers’ title ahead of the Le Mans Series finale at Road Atlanta.

porsche penske motorsport The pair had a lead of more than 100 points ahead of Saturday’s race. Yet it would not be fair to call their entry into the Championship a walk in the park. The 10-hour race was too chaotic for him. But the description was strangely prescient. Because for Campbell, race day started with a two-mile walk to ensure he got to the track on time.

If there was ever any doubt that sportscar racing was in bad shape at the moment, the record crowd at the Atlanta venue proved it – attendance for the season-ending enduro was 20% higher than the previous best. The result was that the half-hour journey from the hotel to the track turned into an hour and 40-minute journey for good friends Campbell and Jaminet. With the clock ticking towards the start of pre-grid procedures, Campbell, like any savvy driver heading for a championship, decided to play the percentages. He got out and walked away!

“An hour before we were supposed to be at the track for reconnaissance tours I thought I’d get out and walk,” Campbell said. “I didn’t want to rush too much – and that made my legs work.”

Traffic delays weren’t the only problem for PPM on race morning, with it also attempting to capture the GTP class teams’ title – the one that comes with an entry to the Le Mans 24 Hours – the manufacturers’ crown and the IMSA Endurance Cup, made up of five long-distance rounds of the championship. PPM World Endurance Championship Driver Julian AndlauerWith Campbell and Jaminet prepared to race the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh, he fell ill and had to drop out of the line-up.

This was the only option for the team if it was to retain its three-driver line-up. Lawrence Vanthoorwho was in Georgia to run the #7 entry nick tandy And Felipe NasrTo double charge your two cars. “This resulted in a very hectic schedule before the start,” said Penske Racing President Jonathan Deguid. Fortunately for PPM, the team uses the same original seat in both of its entries, allowing Vantur to put his insert in the cockpit of the #6 without any problems.

Deguid paid tribute to Vanthoor, the driver known to the team as Larry: “When he started going the wrong direction Larry raised his hand and said, ‘Hey, I’ll do whatever you guys need me to do.’

Vanthoor was on the call almost from the start as PPM laid out the math on how to ensure he reached the minimum driving time in each car. “An hour after the race the team told me, ‘Larry, you’re next’,” the Belgian recalled. “I asked: ‘Which car?’, they said, ‘We don’t know yet!’ This is how the day went.” Vanthoor finished his time first in his native mount, moving up to #7 a few hours into the race. Within an hour of climbing out, he was back on track in #6.

And are running ahead. At the start of the race the #6 Porsche was not looking like the most competitive proposition, but courtesy of a significant piece of luck it moved up the order and took the lead at the end of the third hour. Campbell had just entered the pitlane when the fifth of six safety cars was called to stop the race.

The final full stop for GTP’s leading runners occurred with an hour remaining, ensuring that everyone would need a late splash if the race remained green. Thor opted to bring De Angelis in early, a strategy that proved beneficial. After the Caddy and Porsche stopped, he was suddenly in third place behind Bamber and a car that had adopted the opposite strategy.

When the race went green, the clock allowed Jaminet to take the lead, but as the temperatures dropped along with the sun, the Porsche finished last in qualifying. It progressed significantly to the final safety car with four hours remaining.

“We knew our car would come to life a little more at night,” Campbell explained.

This had never happened before when Campbell climbed back up. Porsche returns to #31 action express racing The Cadillac V-Series.R LMDH that led the race earl bamberhands during the last hour. Four seconds soon dwindled to less than one, but Campbell again kept it safe. “I think victory was possible, but we were in a position to manage the risk,” he said.

Campbell’s percentage continued to play after Jaminet took charge until the final hour: he let the caddy go, which Bamber shared. jack aitken And Frederick VesteyGo into the final hour, and The Heart of Racing was leapfrogged in the final results by the Aston Martin Valkyrie Le Mans hypercar which had the WEC regular Alex Riberas Joined IMSA regular again Ross Gunn And roman de angeles,

The final full stop for GTP’s leading runners occurred with an hour remaining, ensuring that everyone would need a late splash if the race remained green. Thor opted to bring in De Angelis early, a strategy that paid off. After the Caddy and Porsche stopped, he was suddenly in third place behind the Bumber and a car that had adopted the opposite strategy. romain grosjean The Lamborghini SC63 ran second in the LMDH until it came down for a fuel dash with five minutes left on the clock.

At this point De Angelis was only three seconds behind the leader and remained 5.1 seconds behind until he pitted on the final lap. Second was still the best result ever in IMSA or WEC for Valkyrie, with Thor building on the promise of its performances at the previous two World Championship rounds in Austin and Fuji, where with a little luck it could have made the podium.

The Aston was indeed a competitive proposition around the 2.54-mile Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, as was the Lamborghini in what was almost certainly its last race. In Grosjean’s hands the Italian car, running on the new rear suspension, which streamed at the Indianapolis 6 Hours IMSA round in September, was just above average. moves together with the car entering the factory Riley Motorsports The fourth-place finish achieved after its last-gasp effort was well deserved.

It probably wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that either Aston or Lamborghini could have won Petit Le Mans on another day. He had the pace to do so in the final four hours that ran uninterrupted from yellow, although in the case of Lambo only when Grosjean was at the wheel.

However, the Caddy’s speed ranged between daylight and nighttime. aitken capped tom blomquist In meyer shank racing For the first two and a half hours before the Acura ARX-06 entered for the first time. That disappeared when Bamber got into the same safety car as the Porsche had taken the lead. He had to immediately return to the pits due to a slow puncture due to debris on the track.

However, the pace of the Action Express car was such that by the time Bamber handed Westley during the final safety car, he was back in second place, the Dane emerging from the pit cycle with a lead which the car would maintain until the end. It was a deserved victory and moved Aitken up to second in the championship: Bamber was 10th after missing Laguna Seca during WEC duty with Jota in May.

A late incident for the #7 Porsche at the wheel of Nasr resulted in the Brit regaining his runner-up finish in the points. ricky taylor in the best wayne taylor racing Cadiz, none of whom were a factor in Petit this time, moved up to sixth place at Turn 1 with three laps to go. The Porsche approached the wall, a war-wounded car with its underfloor already damaged and tumbling into the 10th house.

Nasr and Tandy still sealed the IMSA Endurance Cup with one point from the Action Express drivers, Porsche and PPM, as well as taking the enduro manufacturers’ and teams’ titles.

The only trophy missing was Penske’s Road Atlanta race, for the overall win in a race that Porsche had never won with a prototype. Remember, its only win came in 2015 when Tandy and patrick pilate The GT Le Mans Class won in heavy rain against thoroughbred racers at the wheel of a 911 RSR.

Porsche might have won Petit Le Mans, although everything was at stake for Campbell and Jaminet.

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– Autosport.com Team