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Jaminet admits last-lap clash fear with sister Porsche in Penske 1-2

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Road America IMSA SportsCar Championship winner Matthieu Jaminet admits he feared a last-lap crash with Porsche colleague Felipe Nasr in the frantic finale to Sunday’s race.

Jaminet crossed the finish line just 0.39s clear of Nasr in the sister Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in the 2h40m race at the fabled four-mile Elkhart Lake track, having juggled fuel saving with his pace and risky overtaking moves through a knot of GTD class cars in the closing stages.

Jaminet even suggested giving up his track position to the points-leading No. 7 car to ensure a 1-2 finish.

Penske’s Porsches were the slowest of the factory-entered cars and were even outqualified by the customer 963 run by Proton Competition. Jaminet’s team-mate Nick Tandy suffered a setback on the opening lap when he clashed with Pipo Derani’s Cadillac and earned himself a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact – although he blamed Derani for moving under braking.

#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet

#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet

Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

Nasr, who shares the No. 7 PPM 963 with Dane Cameron, caught Jaminet with just two minutes of the race remaining, and he had 6% more usable energy available over the leader. Nasr also had a charging Ricky Taylor’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura right on his tail – who had to charge from ninth to third in the fastest car on track after being forced to make a late fuel stop.

It was at this point that Jaminet asked over the radio “Does the 7 want position?” but he didn’t get a reply from the pitwall and deferred to team’s previous position of not imposing team orders.

Jaminet clung on to the lead, and crossed the finish line with just 5% of usable energy remaining, according to IMSA’s live GTP telemetry app. The top three cars were covered by 1.1s at the flag.

“Obviously you still need to push,” said Jaminet of the dash to the flag despite his fuel-saving efforts. “In these kinds of situation, it’s best to have your team-mate behind you but sometimes it’s the worst!

“We both wanna win and you don’t wanna crash with your team-mate, so that’s why, on the last lap, I said ‘uh, look, it would maybe make sense that we don’t compromise our championship’ – they are leading the drivers’, but we had them (on pace) in the last race, and had them a little bit also today.

“We’re leading the manufacturers’, teams’ and drivers’ (championships), so it’s an awesome day for the team, it’s been a tough weekend missing performance.”

#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet

#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

The No. 6 crew was also quick to pay tribute to one of their engineers, who is “fighting for his life”, according to Jaminet.

“That is for Zach LaGrone,” Tandy said of the former Mazda DPi strategist and race engineer. “Our engineer, who is suffering in hospital at the moment, his nickname is Zebra. So we’re carrying the zebra (plush toy) around with us.

“We’d love him to still be here. I’m sure he’s watching. He’s always with us.”

Cameron and Nasr lead the drivers’ championship by 100 points over Jaminet and Tandy with two endurance races remaining at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans.

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Porsche 1-2 as Acura strategy falls short in wild race

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Porsche’s Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy won Sunday’s IMSA SportsCar Championship round at Road America, to claim their second victory of the season despite a penalty.

Jaminet/Tandy beat championship-leading team-mates Dane Cameron/Felipe Nasr and Acura’s Filipe Albuquerque/Ricky Taylor following a strategic battle in an incident-packed 2h40m race around the four-mile track that’s renowned as ‘America’s National Park of Speed’ and featured a 47-car entry.

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, lead the field to green

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, lead the field to green

Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

Pole winner Albuquerque led the field to green in his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, ahead of the No. 40 sister car of Jordan Taylor. But Taylor grabbed the lead at the exit of the first corner, leading Albuquerque, an aggressive Gianmaria Bruni (Proton Porsche 963) and Renger van der Zande (No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R).

Behind them, Pipo Derani’s Action Express-run Cadillac was spun around by Tandy’s No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 at Turn 6, for which Tandy was penalized. That promoted Connor De Phillippi’s No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 to fifth, which had survived a spin on the warm-up lap to run fifth.

Two early yellows were caused by GTD cars, with Alexander Sims getting punted off on the opening lap, while Danny Formal parked his WTR Lamborghini in the Carousel gravel when it suddenly caught fire.

The second caution led to WTR splitting their strategy, with Jordan Taylor pitting the No. 40 for fresh tires and handing over to Louis Deletraz, which meant it tumbled down the GTP order from first to ninth. Albuquerque stayed out to lead from Phillipp Eng’s No. 24 BMW, which missed qualifying after Jesse Krohn shunted it in practice.

Bruni pitted and rejoined at the head of the GTP cars that had stopped, restarting third ahead of De Phillippi and Cameron in the points-leading No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. Van der Zande slipping to sixth, but immediately passed Cameron.

Deletraz made a poor restart and resorted to banging wheels with the recovering Tandy. Deletraz’s stint went from bad to worse when he smashed Richard Westbrook’s JDC-Miller MotorSport Porsche 963 into a spin at Canada Corner and earned himself a drive-through. He’d later get another penalty for the team working on the car outside of the pit box.

Eng pitted the No. 24 BMW to hand over to Krohn just before the one-hour mark, while Albuquerque stayed out beyond the one-hour mark but dived for the pits to hand over to Ricky Taylor when an LMP2 car stopped at the Kink. The rest of the GTP field followed suit, even though the errant car pulled away again under his own power and the anticipated yellow didn’t arrive.

Sebastien Bourdais spun the No. 01 Cadillac at Turn 2 just after he took over from van der Zande. Bruni stayed out the longest, before handing over to Bent Viscaal who rejoined in the lead.

The third full course yellow was required when Nick Yelloly, who’d just taken over the No. 25 BMW from De Phillippi, crashed hard exiting the Carousel. Yelloly was forced out on the spot, while Bourdais needed a new nose after going off behind him to the inside of the corner.

With just over an hour to go, Ricky Taylor blasted past Viscaal for the lead at the restart, and Mathieu Jaminet (in for Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche) followed suit to grab second at Turn 2 and Jack Aitken (in for Derani in the No. 31 Caddy) also moved by him at Turn 4.

Taylor pulled out a big lead over Jaminet, while Felipe Nasr moved past Viscaal to claim fourth in the No. 7 factory Porsche. A final yellow was required to recover debris from some GTD warfare, not only eradicating Taylor’s 7s lead over Jaminet but he needed to stop again for fuel, which dropped him to ninth when he pitted with 26m to go.

The race went green again with 16m remaining, Jaminet leading Aitken and Nasr. Bourdais attacked Viscaal for fourth and passed him before Turn 5, as Deletraz went off at Turn 2. Taylor was on a charge on fresh tires and picked up a cluster of cars in front of him at the restart.

Aitken attacked Jaminet for the lead at Canada Corner, but his outside move was repelled. But Nasr got a great run on Aitken to sweep around him on the front stretch, while Taylor jumped to up to fourth past Bourdais at Turn 1.

Nasr got right on to Jaminet’s tail in traffic as they took the white flag. Taylor passed Aitken for third and tagged the rear of Nasr at Turn 4. The top four were covered by 1.4s at the finish.

Bourdais spun down to last in GTP as Viscaal passed him around the outside for fifth.

#2 United Autosports ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Ben Keating, Ben Hanley

#2 United Autosports ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Ben Keating, Ben Hanley

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

United Autosports wins in LMP2

Ben Keating grabbed the early lead in United Autosports’ No. 2 Oreca, as pole winner PJ Hyett (AO Racing) fell to third at Turn 5, also dropping behind overall Mosport winner Nick Boulle (Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen).

Daniel Goldburg No. 22 United Autosports Oreca was penalized with a drive-through penalty for running the red light in the first round of pitstops. Hyett regained second after the first round of pitstops, but clashed with Goldburg, who was a lap down, at Turn 1.

Tom Dillmann, who took over from Boulle, left the pits with equipment attached, earning him a drive-through that dropped them to seventh.

That led to a head-to-head between the No. 2 in Ben Hanley’s hands and the No. 99 AO car of Paul-Loup Chatin. A perfectly-timed late yellow played into United’s hands, allowing Hanley to stroke him clear of Gerry Kraut/Scott Andrews (JDC-Miller), as Chatin faded to third.

#35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Giacomo Altoe

#35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Giacomo Altoe

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Conquest Ferrari scores shock victory in GTD Pro

In GTD Pro, Nicky Catsburg No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R led Alexander Sims’s No. 3 sister Pratt Miller Motorsports-run car to green. But Sims was punted off at Turn 5 by Mike Rockenfeller’s No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang, which wounded its own right-front corner and took them both out of the reckoning.

Jack Hawksworth was the chief beneficiary in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F, rising to second from Oliver Jarvis (Pfaff Motorsports’ McLaren 720S). At the restart, Madison Snow charged up to second in Paul Miller Racing’s BMW M4.

Catsburg tumbled down the order in the first round of pitstops, as Giacomo Altoe stayed out to lead in the No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296, ahead of the incoming Julien Andlauer who’s replaced Seb Priaulx in the points-leading AO Racing Porsche 911.

Altoe and Daniel Serra had just enough fuel to take victory, by 1.8s from the Snow/Bryan Sellers BMW. Ross Gunn, who shared his No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin with Alex Riberas, finished third to close on the AO Porsche in points, which could only finish fourth.

The No. 14 Lexus was given a costly drive-through for a pit violation as Ben Barnicoat took over from Hawksworth.

Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher won the pro-am GTD class in their Turner Motorsport BMW M4, after Parker Thompson was forced to bail out on a fuel strategy gamble in his Lexus.



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What’s really made Porsche’s 963 the pack-leading GTP car in IMSA?

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What went so right for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 963?

It was at this time last year that everything seemed to click for the new-for-2023 prototype, after stumbling out of the blocks despite the longest pre-season testing program (which started in the summer of 2022) compared its IMSA SportsCar Championship rivals Acura, BMW and Cadillac.

Although it bagged a front-row starting spot in that year’s Daytona 24 Hours, gearbox failure took out one car and the other finished 14th after hitting trouble with the then brand-new common hybrid system. There certainly were some glum faces around its garage that day.

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It showed at Sebring that, when the night air cooled temperatures, the 963 could find its performance window. But a late-race clash with Acura took out both of its cars, and podium finishes went begging.

Its No. 6 car, driven by Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet, notched an unexpected first win on the streets of Long Beach, after a bold gamble to run on a single set of Michelins paid off. But the fact it could do this showed it wasn’t really working its tires efficiently, and had very poor pace, so this was a Hail Mary effort that luckily paid off.

Chances at Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen went begging – a front row lock-out squandered and an on-the-road victory ruled out for excessive plank wear on the No. 6 car respectively. After an abject showing at Mosport, where only BMW was slower in qualifying, then came Road America…

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

“For sure, Road America in 2023 was the turning point, where things really started to click,” says ex-F1 racer Felipe Nasr, who leads this year’s championship. “It was truly a weekend that we could unlock the performance of the car, the true speed of the car.”

Back then Nasr shared the No. 7 with Matt Campbell, who since swapped seats with Dane Cameron to race in the World Endurance Championship for 2024.

“That win was really the breakthrough of the 7 crew,” Nasr adds. “If you look at all the results since, I really think the 7 car has been on a high, really ticking the boxes and being consistent.”

Porsche’s director of LMDh factory racing, Urs Kuratle, refers to it as a “very honest victory” that truly kickstarted its successful sequence of races in America.

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

“It’s like we had a backpack on us that was filled with reliability (issues) and also with performance and operational topics as well,” admits Kuratle.

Following the win, he recalls: “I remember one guy talked to me, ‘So now we can start racing!’ I’m not saying we haven’t had any problems ever since… but maybe that’s the best expression I could say: It’s like the backpack was gone.

“But we are never leaning back, we have to keep on pushing on the whole thing.”

Motorsport.com asked Kuratle what exactly are the key factors that have made the 963 the pack leader: “I think the key strength is that we have a very, very solid package that starts obviously with the drivers,” he replies.

“Road Atlanta is the only race since Road America last year where we have not been on the podium with at least one car. And that is only possible if you have a very strong driver lineup, if the car is reliable and the team doesn’t make any mistakes. These are the key factors.

“I think compared to all the competitors, we have the strongest package on that one and that’s something we are still not 100% happy – if you ever can be happy about this – we still work on every detail to be, to become better on all those topics.”

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden

Photo by: Bob Meyer

This year, the No. 7 car has won the Daytona 24 Hours and The Six Hours at The Glen, while the sister car prevailed at Laguna Seca.

Cameron and Nasr go into this year’s Road America race with a 93-point lead over Cadillac Racing’s Sebastian Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, and are 132 clear of Tandy/Jaminet (who’ve trailed since a disastrous Sebring).

Nasr points to their most-recent victory at Watkins Glen, a race impacted by heavy rainstorms, as the best indicator yet of this team’s precision under pressure.

“When I look at Watkins Glen, I think it was really a test of all of those elements,” Nasr said. “It was a super-hard race with extremely difficult conditions where we had really 50/50 of both.

“It was wet or it was dry, which tires to take, which time to come in the pits. I think that was a really good test to see how we operated in that race, and having the win in Watkins was what’s really not only incredible but was very important for the state of the championship.”

What does a rival think?

Early last year, if you asked one of Porsche’s rival drivers for their thoughts on how the 963 appeared to them in combat, you’d get some puckered lips and responses like “very snappy, very oversteery” and “it seems to struggle to find the performance window on these tires”.

It’s one area that the 963 has vastly improved over its competition lifespan, as it has now won races using all of Michelin’s range of tire compounds – soft, medium and hard – which are mandated for each round.

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Speaking on the subject this week, Acura’s Filipe Albuquerque has advocated Michelin leaning more on the use of its soft compound where possible, to try and avoid instances of these heavy yet powerful cars crashing on cold rubber.

“I believe it’s better to blister a tire than to crash a car on the out lap,” he says. “The performance is better with the harder compound wherever you go (in helping stint lengths), but what it is harder is just the survival on cold tyres.

“Having a softer compound, it’s just much easier to apply the energy on the out lap, but eventually you will pay through the long run. But, at the end of the day, it’s going to be the same for everybody.

“For example, at Long Beach we had the soft when last year it was medium. So that was the main change from last year to this year. On top of that, obviously, all the drivers know and then taking their adjustments, but it seems like Porsche has been a little bit ahead of things on cold tyres.

“They’ve been a little bit stronger than the others as well in WEC. I mean, I think that’s the perks of having cars in multiple championships.”

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

When Nasr is asked about the tire warmup issue, he says it’s been a real focus of attention.

“I feel like one year under our belts make a huge difference on understanding on how to turn on the tires, depending on each track and the tire compound as well,” says Nasr. “We’ve seen that several times and in the last race in Watkins, when it was mixed conditions.

“Some cars could really light up the tire right away. Some took maybe a few more laps and, you know, it goes in favor of some cars depending on the track layout and how we put the energy on the tires.

“It’s certainly one area we’ve been working a lot. Not only as a team but as drivers as well trying to see where we can produce and put more energy in the tire, but with the car as well, like setup-wise, things that we can do to generate more heat in the tire.

“Everything counts, you know, in-laps, the out-laps and how you generate the heat on the tires in the race.”

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

So, while Porsche was already decent on these tire compounds, it was still prone to struggles at high-energy tracks like Mosport (which is no longer on the GTP schedule) and Road Atlanta, which hosts the Petit Le Mans finale.

Porsche’s 963 has certainly hit its sweet spot to lead the IMSA drivers’, teams’ and constructors’ standings with just three rounds to go. And PPM is leading the WEC drivers’ and constructors’ championships too, with customer JOTA topping the teams’…

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Porsche wins wild, rain-halted six-hour race

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Porsche’s Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr won a topsy-turvy, rain-disrupted sixth round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, The Six Hours of The Glen.

Their Porsche beat the Cadillac of Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais by 0.7s after a series of rain showers and storms flipped the race order several times in a sometimes bizarre event.

Polewinner Louis Deletraz’s #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 led the 56-car field to green at the fabled 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course in upstate New York. Van der Zande grabbed the lead entering The Boot section on the opening lap in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R.

Phil Hanson’s #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 passed Jack Aitken’s #31 Action Express-run Cadillac and picked off Deletraz to run second before the first full-course yellow, as Dwight Merriman spun Era Motorsport’s Oreca – which had won both LMP2 races so far – on lap two and got himself stuck in the grass.

At the restart, Hanson barged his way past van der Zande for the lead, banging wheels on the run to the Bus Stop and forging his way to an impressive lead in the customer 963.

The second caution was for George Kurtz (Crowdstrike by APR LMP2) brutally ramming Roberto Lecorte’s Cetilar GTD Ferrari into the fence at Turn 8.

All GTP cars pitted under yellow, and Philipp Eng’s #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 led the restart, having taken a shorter fill of energy, from Aitken. Erstwhile leader Hanson handed over to Tijmen van der Helm, who rejoined third but quickly tumbled back to sixth.

Aitken passed Eng the lead at the start of the second hour with a smart move around the outside of Turn 7.

But after the second round of pitstops, the leading #31 car required an unscheduled pitstop after Pipo Derani, who took over from Aitken, damaged the nose in an off at Turn 1. He also flatspotted the right-front tire, and the lengthy extra stop put him a lap down and out of the frame.

That promoted Nick Tandy’s #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, which he’d just taken over from Mathieu Jaminet, to the lead as Hour 3 began, from Bourdais in the #01 Cadillac. Jordan Taylor powered past Bourdais for second in the #40 Acura he took over from poleman Deletraz.

The third yellow was required when Joao Barbosa shunted the Sean Creech Motorsport-run Ligier LMP2 on the exit of Turn 1. The #7 PPM 963 of Cameron stayed out to lead, as Taylor picked up second from Tandy and Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 Acura – but Albuquerque was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release in the pitlane.

On fresher tires, Tandy passed Taylor to make it a Porsche 1-2 by half distance – just before the heavens opened. Cameron missed the pit entry and stayed out for a slow lap on slicks, as Tandy and Taylor pitted for wets.

The fourth yellow arrived soon after, as Gianmarco Levorato’s Proton-run Ford Mustang shunted on the approach to the final corner and Zach Robichon spun his Aston Martin in avoidance.

The second half of the race saw the wet-shod Tandy leading Taylor and Matteo Cairoli in the sole Lamborghini SC63 (which would later be hit by overheating issues). Tandy pitted immediately to switch to slicks, with Cameron rocketing back to the lead. Albuquerque rose to second, ahead of Nick Yelloly’s re-tubbed #25 BMW, which was crashed in practice by Connor De Phillippi and started from the pit lane, and Bourdais.

Heavy rain arrived on lap 101, bringing out another full-course caution that coincided with Sarah Bovy slamming her Iron Dames Lamborghini into the wall on the exit of a dry Turn 10.

Soon after the restart on a damp track, Albuquerque pulled a bold move to Cameron – the pair banging wheels on the back straight – to grab the lead towards the end of Hour 4.

After falling back on strategy, Tandy charged up to the front again, trading paint with Albuquerque in a frantic duel for the lead inside two hours to go. Tandy grabbed the top spot in a wild three-wide move with a backmarker in the chute towards Turn 6.

Moments later, rain hammered down once again, with multiple cars firing off into the barriers on their slick tires – four cars going off at Turn 8, including Loris Spinelli’s GTD Lamborghini ploughing head-on into the barriers, and Hunter McElrea’s LMP2 car slamming the Turn 1 tirewall.

There was also chaos in the Porsche Penske pits, as Jaminet (back in for Tandy) had to reverse around Nasr (in for Cameron) after both cars overshot their pit boxes.

That led to an Acura 1-2, with Deletraz’s #40 leading Ricky Taylor’s #10. De Phillippi snatched third ahead of van der Zande, Jaminet and Nasr. After several laps behind the pace car, the race was red flagged with 1h20m to go.

As the race went back to yellow conditions, as everyone changed to slicks, Deletraz won the race off pit road, as the #10 slumped from second to sixth. Nasr was big gainer, going from sixth to second, with van der Zande retaining third from Jaminet and De Phillippi.

More drama followed as Taylor ground to a halt as his right-rear wheel fell off just as IMSA was preparing to go to green. Team-mate Albuquerque believed the earlier contact with Cameron had caused some issues with that corner.

After a lengthy delay, the race restarted with just 16 minutes remaining. Nasr dived past Deletraz at Turn 1, with van der Zande grabbing second from him going into the Esses, and Jaminet took third from Deletraz at Turn 6.

Van der Zande couldn’t catch Nasr, who sprinted away to extend the #7 car’s points lead.

#88 Richard Mille AF Corse ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen, Lilou Wadoux Ducellier

#88 Richard Mille AF Corse ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen, Lilou Wadoux Ducellier

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

AF Corse’s Le Mans winner takes LMP2

In LMP2, poleman PJ Hyett led in AO Racing’s Oreca led from Steven Thomas (TDS Racing) and Daniel Goldburg’s #22 United Autosports. Hyett was given a drive-through penalty, however, for a start infringement – which set a trend for penalties for category frontrunners.

Just before half distance, Tom Dillmann in the leading #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen entry was handed a drive-through penalty for a restart violation, as was Felipe Fraga (#74 Riley), who inherited the lead, for passing under yellow.

As the race restarted, overall Le Mans winner Niklas Nielsen led in AF Corse’s #88 car and survived contact from Fraga at Turn 7, as Ben Hanley’s #2 United Autosports entry got spun around by Colin Braun in the #04 Crowdstrike Oreca.

That gave Nielsen the win just seven days on from his famous Le Mans success with Ferrari, co-driven by Luis Perez Companc and Lilou Wadoux.

#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo: Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas, #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims

#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo: Ross Gunn, Alex Riberas, #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Aston Martin scores last-lap victory in GTD Pro

Daniel Serra led from pole in Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 296 from Alexander Sims in Corvette Racing’s #3 Z06 GT3.R.

Jack Hawksworth’s #14 Vasser Sullivan’s Pro class Lexus RC F gained the lead after the first round of pitstops from Sims, who had to pit the #3 for new brake rotors in the second hour.

The longtime leading #14 Lexus was given a drive-through just before half distance for ‘not maintaining pace at the third restart, and the class lead changed hands multiple times during the weather interruptions.

After the red flag, Tommy Milner found himself at the front of the GTD Pro field in the #4 Corvette, ahead of Ross Gunn’s Heart of Racing Aston Martin and Marvin Kirchhofer’s Pfaff McLaren 720S – all three having stayed out on slicks in the downpour.

Milner survived scary moments as the GTP leaders caught him and the GTD pack with just minutes remaining but what he couldn’t do was make it to the finish on fuel, and he had to pit at the white flag.

That allowed Gunn and Alex Riberas to scoop the class honors, ahead of the Pfaff McLaren and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette he shared with Sims.

Philip Ellis led the pro-am class in Winward Racing’s Mercedes, having also slithered around on slicks – almost going off at Turn 6 as he did so. Ellis fended off an attack from Parker Thompson’s #12 Lexus at the Bus Stop in the closing moments to win along with Russell Ward and Indy Dontje.



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Cameron pips returnee Blomqvist after two red flags in FP1

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Porsche’s Dane Cameron set the pace in opening practice for the sixth round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at Watkins Glen, ahead of the returning Tom Blomqvist for Cadillac.

IMSA brings a 56-car field to the classic 3.4-mile road course, which hosted the United States Grand Prix for 20 years, set in the rolling hills near the Finger Lakes in upstate New York.

Cameron led the way in the 90-minute session in his factory-backed #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 with a lap of 1m34.175s, as dry conditions altered the run plans of the teams, many of which were expecting wet weather in each practice session this weekend.

After a brief red flag for the Tower Motorsports LMP2 Oreca crashing at Turn 1, which required some barrier repairs, recently jettisoned IndyCar racer Blomqvist jumped up to second in the Action Express-run #31 Cadillac V-Series.R, lapping 0.172s off Cameron’s pace.

Unlike the majority of the GTP teams, Blomqvist joins regular-season racers Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken in a three-driver lineup for the six-hour enduro.

“I missed it more than I thought I would,” Blomqvist told IMSA Radio. “Took me a few laps but then I got comfortable, I guess this is what I’m built for!

“Initially I wasn’t supposed to be here, but things happened on the other side [in IndyCar] and Pipo’s expecting another child, so in case it arrives then it’s better to have three drivers instead of one!”

A second red flag was required with 13 minutes remaining, again for the Tower LMP2, when Charlie Eastwood crashed it at Turn 7, this time deranging its left-front corner.

That only allowed for a four-minute sprint to the end of the session, but the hard compound Michelin tire in play this weekend meant there were no significant improvements.

Filipe Albuquerque was third fastest in his Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, ahead of Philipp Eng’s BMW M Hybrid V8 and Nick Tandy in the #6 PPM 963.

Mikkel Jensen led LMP2 with 1m35.531s in the TDS Racing Oreca that he will share with Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea. He was 0.046s quicker than Felipe Fraga’s Riley-run version, and set the fastest middle sector overall.

Laurin Heinrich set the pace in GTD Pro, lapping his AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3 R in 1m45.242s, a couple of tenths clear of the pro-am category leader Scott Andrews in Lone Star Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Spencer Pumpelly spun the Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage at Turn 7 and rejoined.



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Porsche drivers claim rivals were sandbagging before Le Mans 24 Hours

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Porsche was deemed by many as the favourites to take victory in the 92nd edition of the French endurance classic, having won two of the three previous World Endurance Championship rounds at Qatar and Spa, and also looked rapid in testing and qualifying at La Sarthe.

Toyota’s technical director David Floury was even quoted as saying that Porsche would have done a “pretty bad job” if it didn’t end up winning the race, so impressed was he with the pace of the 963 in testing.

And although the expanded three-car factory Penske-run squad enjoyed a number of stints at the front in the race, including in the afternoon on Sunday, there seemed a clear disparity in performance to LMH cars from Ferrari and Toyota.

In the end, fourth was the best result Porsche could manage on its second appearance at Le Mans in the Hypercar class, as Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the #6 963 LMDh machine.

Speaking after the finish, Estre hit back at the comments made earlier in the week by Toyota, claiming that it was the Japanese manufacturer who had underachieved by losing the victory fight to Ferrari.

“It makes me laugh, the Toyotas saying after the Test Day that if we don’t win this race, it’s because we’ve messed up. Today, they’re the ones who messed up,” Estre told Motorsport.com.

“In the end, we were flat out from the first day, and I don’t think they were. We didn’t have false hopes, we were hoping for a good race and we had it. We gave everything we had, but it wasn’t enough.”

#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy

#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Christensen also suggested that Toyota and Ferrari turned up the wick during the business part of the race week, allowing them to overhaul Porsche and engage in a straight duel for the win.

“I think the others turned up the pace,” Christensen, who came home in sixth in the #5 Porsche he shared with Frederic Makowiecki and Matt Campbell, told Motorsport.com.

“The others turned up the pace when it mattered and we gave everything from the start.”

Porsche motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach wouldn’t be drawn on other manufacturers hiding their true pace prior to the race. However, he did concur that the pecking order was very different to what was seen in practice.

“I can only say we went through our programme in practice,” he told Motorsport.com. “We did everything. We thought it was the right thing to do and we showed we can do. If other competitors didn’t want to show everything in the practice that’s of no meaning to me.

“We do what we consider to be right and that’s our programme. Yes, in the race it did look a bit different to the practice but that’s not a problem to me.”

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Straightline speed deficit holds back Porsche

The Porsche Penske squad, like other teams, did make some costly strategic mistakes as the weather remained unpredictable for much of the enduro. However, it also lacked the pace to consistently challenge Ferrari and Toyota, particularly in the final two hours as rain returned at La Sarthe.

Porsche’s LMDh director Urs Kuratle revealed that the 963 LMDh suffered from a mysterious lack of top speed, a problem that is compounded at Le Mans by its long straights and rapid acceleration zones.

“We were lacking speed on the straight,” Kuratle explained in an interview with Motorsport.com. “That’s something we need to understand where it’s coming from, from acceleration, from aero efficiency, I don’t know.

“We are not talking much, we are 2 or 3km/h [down], so that’s not really a lot. But these gaps or these differences at Le Mans are even worse. The straights are bigger than on normal race tracks. It’s something that we will analyse.”

Kuratle said he was proud of the effort put in by Porsche Penske Motorsport on its second appearance in the Hypercar class at Le Mans but conceded that the squad was “simply not good enough” to take the win.

“Not the result we wanted,” he said. «I’m proud of the team and that includes all the drivers, engineers, mechanics, everybody involved.

“It’s the highlight of the year for us in the WEC and if you come fourth that’s not what you want. Maybe you ask why [we finished only fourth], we were simply not good enough that’s what it was.

“One or the other [strategic] decision we would have made differently but that is the same for all the teams. And at the end of the day 40s or however many seconds were missing to the victory, which is amazing after 24 hours.

“At the end of the day it wasn’t enough.”

Additional reporting by Ben Vinel

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Estre’s «exceptional» pole lap «not 100% representative» of Porsche Le Mans pace

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Porsche Penske factory team barely got one 963 into Hyperpole with an initial eighth time in the first qualifying session for Estre, before the #7 Toyota lost its laps due to causing a red flag, promoting Jota’s #12 Porsche into the top eight.

Driving the #6 car, Estre went on to snatch pole position for the legendary World Endurance Championship race with a last-gasp Hyperpole effort which was 0.148s clear of the closest Cadillac.

Asked by Motorsport.com if this qualifying result matched what he had been expecting or turned out somewhat better, Estre’s team-mate Andre Lotterer said it was «a bit better» and had a lot to do with his French team-mate’s remarkable lap at Circuit de la Sarthe.

«After the Test Day, we thought we were good, but after FP1, FP2 and qualifying, we saw it wasn’t so easy to be at the front,» Lotterer said. «Kevin really did an exceptional job, putting it in the top eight, in Hyperpole. We saw that not many Porsches were able to.

«Then, in Hyperpole, everything worked out well. An exceptional lap from him. It maybe is not 100% representative of the performance.»

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: Nikolaz Godet

Just three hypercars failed to qualify within two seconds of the fastest car in Q1 – Dries Vanthoor’s #15 BMW – despite Le Mans being a particularly long track, with 13.626km covered in under three and a half minutes by the top-class machines.

«I feel like everyone is pretty level,» Lotterer reflected. «If you don’t optimise your whole package, you quickly end up left behind.»

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The three-time Le Mans winner with Audi is not too sure what to expect in the race, with the fastest Porsche reaching 338.1km/h in the speed trap – the ranking being topped by Mikkel Jensen’s #93 Peugeot with 343.4km/h. Isotta Fraschini, Alpine, Ferrari, Toyota and BMW also went faster than Porsche, with only Cadillac and Lamborghini less rapid.

«We don’t have crazy top speed,» Lotterer admits. «We’re a bit vulnerable on this. But then, overall pace is good. I don’t know how this will translate over several hours of racing; that will be interesting.»

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Detroit race traffic will be “unlike any other” track in U.S.

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


IMSA’s premier sportscar series makes its racing debut at the tight and twisty 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Detroit on Saturday, with its GTP and GTD Pro classes making up a 21-car field.

Tandy won the pole from Porsche Penske Motorsport team-mate Dane Cameron by 0.124s in qualifying on Friday afternoon, and although his time was 3.7s quicker than the fastest GTD Pro car, the difference in the way the classes make their lap time will pose a unique challenge when it comes to lappery.

“What’s so different here is going to be the interaction between the two classes,” Tandy told Motorsport.com. “I think it’s something that’s different here to anywhere else.

“We’re basically quicker than the GTD cars in three areas, which are the three big straights. But pretty much all the braking zones, because of the ABS they have, and a lot of the sharp corners, because they’re a lot shorter wheelbase, the GTDs are actually quicker than the GTPs.

“So, if we don’t pass a car that we’re behind by Turn 3, we will not pass them until Turn 1 on the next lap if we’re lucky. We won’t get held up so much, although we lose time in dirty air, of course, but we cannot stay on their bumper because of the ABS and the short wheelbase that allows them to rotate the car faster.

“They are genuinely quicker in all the slow corners. So, the class interaction is going to be different for sure.”

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#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy

#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Tandy says that Turns 1 and 3 are the only true passing places for the big and heavy cars, although the GTPs with their electrical hybrid boost system are topping 185mph on the long straight into Turn 3.

He says that means overtaking among the prototypes will be limited: “In class, there is no passing zone, there has to be a mistake made – because even in the draft down the back down to Turn 3, you’ve got to be on the gearbox out of Turn 2, which is almost impossible to do.

“Because this circuit has so many slow speed exits all the time, so you have the whole accordion effect where the car in front will always get on the gas at one car length before the previous one. If you are close with a class rival into braking for Turn 3, yeah, anything could happen, we brake at over 500 feet so it’s quite a big braking zone.

“But, in sportscar stuff, there’s lots of opportunity that comes up with multi-class racing, so you’ve got to be ready to take your opportunity.

“As for dealing with GTD traffic, it’s even tough for us to get a run out of the last corner and pass into Turn 1, they’ve got to be willing to let us go. It’s totally different to even Long Beach [IMSA’s other street sprint event], for example.”

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Porsche fastest in FP1 after red flag for manhole cover fix

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO



On the series’ debut on the tight and twisty 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Detroit, Tandy beat Nick Yelloly’s BMW and Ricky Taylor’s Acura to the fastest time in the opening 90-minute session for GTP and GTD Pro cars.

Tandy consistently set the initial pace, working down to 1m08.390s on his opening stint, as teams discovered whether their simulations agreed with reality over the bumps and hard turns that are typical of American street courses.

The best of the rest early on was Gianmaria Bruni, the ex-Minardi F1 racer getting within 0.039s in the customer Proton 963, and Felipe Nasr made it a Porsche 1-2-3.

The session was then interrupted after 26 minutes for a manhole cover to be attended to on the backstretch. It resumed after a 16-minute delay.

Connor De Phillippi #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 leapt to the top of the times with a 1m08.097s. Mathieu Jaminet took over from Tandy in the #6 and improved to within a second of De Phillippi with 1m08.193s.

The fastest time was then pipped, by 0.003s, by Filipe Albuquerque’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, which unleashed 1m08.053s. That was briefly beaten by Sebastien Bourdais in the Chip Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R, dipping into the 1m07s bracket with 1m07.976s.

Tandy reclaimed P1 inside the final 10 minutes of the session with 1m07.811s, but Ricky Taylor (in the #10 Acura for Albuquerque) beat it with 1m07.705s. Tandy wasn’t done and responded with a sequence of 1m07.558s, 1m07.242s and 1m06.899s.

Fellow Brit Yelloly took over from De Phillippi in the #25 BMW and got within six tenths of Tandy with 1m07.479s. Taylor ended up third but was eight tenths in arrears, with the #24 BMW of Philipp Eng in fourth.

Renger van der Zande graced the Turn 1 and Turn 3 run-offs on his way to fifth in the CGR Cadillac, ahead of Bruni. Jack Aitken was seventh in the Action Express-run Caddy, ahead of Dane Cameron’s #7 Porsche, Louis Deletraz (Acura) and Tijmen van der Helm (JDC Porsche).

Corvette beats Mustang in GTD Pro muscle car clash

In GTD Pro, Dirk Muller set the early pace as Ford was clearly keen to show off its new Multimatic Mustang’s abilities on a track that’s in the shadow of General Motors’ global HQ at the Renaissance Center.

But Chevrolet struck back almost immediately, with Tommy Milner taking P1 in his #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and it soon became a 1-2 with Antonio Garcia joining the party in the #3 sister car.

Ferrari took the top spot after the 20-minute mark, as Albert Costa produced 1m12.540s on Conquest Racing’s debut in the all-pro class, pipping Milner by 0.057s.

Milner then paid a visit to the Turn 1 run-off before rejoining and lowering his pace to 1m12.220s, which was topped by Garcia at 1m11.815s. Milner subsequently beat that with 1m11.767s, to lead the class by 0.048s.

Following the red flag for the manhole cover repair, Costa retook the class lead with 1m10.992s before Alexander Sims took over from Garcia and produced 1m10.509s.

In for Muller, Joey Hand jumped up to second in the #65 Mustang with a 1m10.846s, over a third of a second off the pace, but just ahead of Milner and Costa.



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