| Cars from Same Team Fighting for Championship Doesn’t Happen Often October 7, 2024By Tony DiZinnoIMSA Wire Service |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Porsche Penske Motorsport is all but assured its first title as a unified group, its third for Team Penske’s sports car effort in the last six IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship seasons, and the 13th American sports car title dating back to the 1967 United States Road Racing Championship won by Mark Donohue. Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, in the No. 7 Porsche 963, hold a 124-point lead in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class on teammates Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche 963. Cameron and Nasr can clinch the title with a fourth-place finish or better. The lingering question heading into Motul Petit Le Mans, however, is which Porsche Penske pair will propel themselves to the top of the points chart. Recent Teammate Title Battles Head-to-head championship contests between IMSA teammates don’t happen as often as you might think. Penske’s former Acura program had one in 2019, and in the previous GT Le Mans (GTLM) class era, both Corvette and Porsche factory programs had toss-up years between their two cars. For back-to-back years, Action Express Racing’s two cars, the Whelen and Mustang Sampling Corvette Daytona Prototypes in 2015 and 2016, had intense battles at Motul Petit Le Mans. The No. 5 Mustang Sampling car of Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi came out ahead in the waterlogged 2015 race, while Cameron and Eric Curran delivered the No. 31 Whelen car the title in 2016. “The 2015 race was the most difficult two-car championship, because we had to cover both strategies to cover both situations, and no one knew when the race would end,” said Chris Mitchum, Action Express director of race team operations. Cameron was on the losing end of the 2015 battle but on the winning end in 2016. He’s also won a Daytona Prototype international (DPi) title for Penske ahead of his teammates, with Acura, in 2019. “On the teammate side, we’ve had it before,” he explained. “I’d say it can be a little uncomfortable in a way. You want to be fair. You spend hundreds of days together. That can hurt if you’re on the wrong side.” Nasr, Cameron Consistency Positions Them Up Front The model of consistency, the No. 7 car has been on a roll overall from the 2023 to 2024 races at Road America. In a 10-race stretch covering the last three 2023 races and first seven 2024 rounds, the No. 7 car finished on the podium eight times and in the two races it didn’t, it finished fourth. Nasr and Cameron have led the championship from the start of the season after launching it with a win at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. From Long Beach, their lead has hovered in the 50- to 100-point range before what is now a season-high 124-point gap. “Being in the lead is always the best scenario I would say for the drivers and team,” Nasr said going into the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “The No. 7 car has had an incredible year so far for both the sprint races and the long races, winning two races and being on the podium several times.” A Two-Race Porsche Penske Pendulum Swing |
 The drama between the teammates intensified in the last two WeatherTech Championship races: one at Road America and last time out at Indianapolis. One bit of drama occurred on-track and the second took place after the checkered flag flew.In a snarling pack of traffic at Road America, Jaminet in the No. 6 held off a charging Nasr in the No. 7 while also saving fuel to bring home a 1-2 finish. Jaminet and Tandy were thankful to win, but also realistic they needed a bit of good fortune to overcome what was then a 100-point gap heading to Indianapolis. “We run second to the sister car in points … but if we lose ground at Indy, it’ll be tough for us to do anything but support the No. 7 at Road Atlanta,” Tandy said then. A similarly skeptical Jaminet added, “Hopefully we need some luck on endurance races as it’s been a struggle, definitely, for 1.5 years. Things have fallen apart! We need two clean weekends here and Atlanta, so from our side it’s full push now.” In the six-hour race at Indianapolis, power steering issues negated any hopes of success for the No. 7, and Nasr soldiered home to the finish what was initially scored as ninth place in class. The No. 6 car appeared poised to capitalize, finishing third and reducing the unofficial points gap to just 14 points behind their teammates. However, extended postrace inspection of seven GTP class cars included the No. 6 car, which was found to have modifications to its wiring harness/loom that were outside of homologation. The car was moved from third to 10th place in the final GTP race standings, with the No. 7 moved up to a seventh-place official finish. Jonathan Diuguid, Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director, explained the technical issue was with a right-hand sidepod loom that feeds the leader light and transponder on right side of the car. Procedural updates will ensure all Porsche 963s globally will have the modifications made for subsequent races. What A Title Would Mean, Legacy-Wise With the gap now extended to 124 points, Cameron and Nasr can afford to take fewer risks as they look to add another title to their sterling IMSA resumes. Cameron has three championships already in three different classes (2014 GTD, 2016 Prototype, 2019 DPi) while Nasr has two (2018 Prototype, 2021 DPi). “Chasing a title from the Porsche Penske side, there are more expectations in a group like this,” Cameron said. “But (Team Penske President) Tim Cindric said pressure is a privilege, to have these expectations.” Nasr added, “It would mean a lot. That’s what I’m here for. I’m working towards that goal and it would be super special representing Porsche and Penske.” Hard as it is to believe, Tandy does not have an IMSA championship despite winning a plethora of crown jewel endurance sports car events in his career. Jaminet has a 2022 GTD PRO class title with Pfaff Motorsports. “I’m not interested in finishing second or third,” Tandy admitted. “If there’s a chance to do something risky and potentially lose points to the (No.) 01 (car) and others, against the smaller chance to something paying off, we’d probably go for it. “The (No.) 7 will likely play a safer strategy being ahead on points. If there’s a situation where we split strategies, we’d go for the option, let’s say.” |
