News

• Matt Campbell clinches second pole position for the Porsche 963
• Mathieu Jaminet plants the factory squad's sister car on P2
• Penultimate round of the IMSA series gets underway on Sunday at 1:10 pm

Porsche Penske Motorsport's two factory-run Porsche 963 will tackle the penultimate round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season from the front grid row. Australian works driver Matt Campbell qualified on pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and his French colleague Mathieu Jaminet set the second quickest time.

Stuttgart. Porsche Penske Motorsport headed into the qualifying session for round ten of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with high expectations. Driving the No. 7 Porsche 963, Matt Campbell set the fastest times in both free practices on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. In the 20-minute qualifying session, the Australian lived up to his role as a hot favourite, with Campbell turning a blistering pole-setting lap in 1:13.672 minutes. In the No. 6 car, Frenchman Mathieu Jaminet claimed the second grid spot in the identical 515+ kW (700 hp) hybrid prototype from Weissach.

Under cloudy skies and in temperatures of 22 degrees Celsius, the works team's two Porsche 963 waited in the pit lane for two minutes at the start of the session. Campbell and Jaminet then patiently warmed up the tyres to attack in the second half of qualifying. The Australian promptly topped the leaderboard and improved his lap time again on his second attempt. With four minutes remaining, Jaminet was in third, then advanced to second position – scoring a perfect result for Porsche Penske Motorsport.

"For the second time this season, we locked out the top two grid positions. That makes me really proud," says Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. "It's obvious that the interaction of the team is getting better and better. This involves not only the crew in the IMSA series but also the team in the FIA WEC. The drivers also put in perfect drives. On Friday we still had some issues to work on, which we did successfully – and the result reflects this. We're excited for the race. First of all, many thanks to everyone in Weissach, in Mooresville and to all the partners who played their part in today's success."

"The team did a perfect job. We were very strong in practice and underlined this in qualifying," says Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. "We have perfectly implemented the insights that our team gained at the FIA WEC race in Fuji. Porsche Penske Motorsport's global programme with its involvement in the World Championship and IMSA series is working well. Tomorrow we want to score maximum points and reduce the gap in the driver, team and manufacturer standings so that we can boost our championship chances. We have the speed, now need to call it up on Sunday."

Round ten of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in Indianapolis starts on Sunday, 17 September at 1:10 pm local time (7:10 pm CEST). Outside the USA and Canada, the 2:40-hour race can be viewed via a free live stream on imsa.tv.

Drivers' qualifying quotes
Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #7): "This pole position means a lot to the team because Penske owns the track. Everything ran perfectly for us in the free practice sessions and qualifying. Still, I expect race day will be hard work. It's a very short track and there are a lot of cars in five different classes. It'll definitely be hectic, very tight and spectacular. We need to be careful and not risk collisions. If we can stay out of trouble, then we should be good for a decent result."

Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche 963 #6): "Pole for the sister car, second place for us – a brilliant result. I'm happy because, at the beginning of the weekend, we were far away from the leaders with our No. 6 car. The team did an excellent job and made us significantly faster compared to Friday. Our car runs much better now. Based on this, second place was a positive surprise. We head into the race from an ideal starting position. Hopefully, we can turn that into a top result."

Qualifying result
GTP class:
1. Campbell/Nasr (AUS/BR), Porsche 963 #7, 1:13.672 minutes
2. Tandy/Jaminet (UK/F), Porsche 963 #6, 1:13.824 minutes
3. Blomqvist/Braun (UK/USA), Acura #60, 1:13.864 minutes
9. Bruni/Tincknell (I/UK), Porsche 963 #59, 1:14.306 minutes
10. Rockenfeller/van der Helm (D/NL), Porsche 963 #5, 1:14.632 minutes