Matthieu Jaminet, the victor of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America, expressed his concern about a potential crash on the final lap with fellow Porsche driver Felipe Nasr during the nail-biting conclusion of Sunday’s race.
Jaminet finished the 2h40m race at the legendary four-mile Elkhart Lake circuit just 0.39 seconds ahead of Nasr, piloting the second Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, as he balanced fuel conservation with precarious overtaking maneuvers amidst a cluster of GTD cars in the race’s concluding laps.
He even contemplated relinquishing his position to the points-leading #7 car to secure a 1-2 finish for the team.
Penske’s Porsches were the least competitive among the factory-entered vehicles and were outqualified by a customer-run 963 from Proton Competition.
Jaminet’s teammate Nick Tandy faced an early challenge on the first lap when he collided with Pipo Derani’s Cadillac, receiving a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, though he held Derani responsible for changing his line while braking.
With only two minutes remaining in the race, Nasr, who co-drives the #7 PPM 963 with Dane Cameron, managed to close the gap on Jaminet, utilizing 6% more usable energy than the leader.
Right behind Nasr was Ricky Taylor from Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, who had clawed his way from ninth to third after making a late fuel stop.
During this tense moment, Jaminet radioed inquiring if the #7 wanted to swap positions, but received no response from the pit crew and chose to adhere to the team’s previous stance against imposing team orders.
#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
Jaminet managed to maintain his lead, finishing with only 5% of usable energy left. The top three competitors concluded the race within 1.1 seconds of each other.
“Obviously, you still need to push,” Jaminet remarked about the sprint to the finish in spite of his fuel conservation strategy. “In these situations, it’s ideal to have your teammate behind you, but sometimes it can be risky!”
“We both want to win, and the last thing you want is to crash with your teammate, which is why I suggested on the final lap that perhaps it would be wise not to jeopardize our championship.”
“The #7 car is leading the drivers’ championship, but we had a competitive pace in the last race and again today.”
“We are currently leading the manufacturers’, teams’, and drivers’ championships, making it a fantastic day for the team, especially after a challenging weekend due to performance issues.”
The #6 team also took a moment to honor one of their engineers, who is “battling for his life,” as Jaminet mentioned.
“This victory is dedicated to Zach LaGrone,” Tandy shared about the former Mazda DPi strategist and race engineer. “Our engineer, who is currently hospitalized, has the nickname Zebra, so we’re keeping the zebra [plush toy] with us.”
“We’d love for him to be here with us; I’m sure he’s watching over us; he’s always with us.”
Cameron and Nasr maintain a 100-point lead in the drivers’ championship over Jaminet and Tandy, with two endurance races still to come at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans.
