Matthieu Jaminet, the victor of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America, expressed concerns about a potential last-lap incident with his Porsche teammate Felipe Nasr during the intense conclusion of Sunday’s race.
Jaminet finished the 2h40m race at the iconic four-mile Elkhart Lake circuit just 0.39 seconds ahead of Nasr, who drove the sister Porsche Penske Motorsport 963. The final moments of the race involved Jaminet skillfully balancing fuel conservation with his racing pace and making daring overtakes through a group of GTD class competitors.
He even contemplated relinquishing his track position to the points-leading No. 7 car to guarantee a 1-2 finish for the team.
Penske’s Porsches were notably the slowest among the factory-entered vehicles, and they were outqualified by a customer-run 963 from Proton Competition. Jaminet’s teammate Nick Tandy faced difficulties on the opening lap, colliding with Pipo Derani’s Cadillac and receiving a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, despite blaming Derani for his maneuver under braking.
#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
With just two minutes left in the race, Nasr, who drives the No. 7 PPM 963 alongside Dane Cameron, closed in on Jaminet. He had 6% more usable energy compared to the leader and was closely followed by Ricky Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura, who had made a remarkable charge from ninth to third after a late fuel stop.
At that point, Jaminet radioed in to ask, “Does the 7 want position?” but received no response from the pit during the team’s pre-established stance against imposing team orders.
Despite the pressure, Jaminet held his ground and crossed the finish line with only 5% of usable energy left, according to the IMSA’s live GTP telemetry. The top three competitors finished within 1.1 seconds of each other.
“Clearly, you still have to push,” Jaminet noted regarding the sprint to the finish despite the need to conserve fuel. “In these situations, it’s usually advantageous to have your teammate behind you but at times, it can be the opposite!”
“We both aim to win, and you want to avoid any accidents with your teammate, which is why I mentioned on the last lap that it might make sense to not compromise our championship. They’re leading the drivers’ standings, and we’ve shown we can match their pace in the previous race and a bit today as well.”
“We are leading the manufacturers’, teams’, and drivers’ championships, so it’s a fantastic day for the team, despite facing performance challenges throughout the weekend.”
#6 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Nick Tandy, Mathieu Jaminet
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
The crew of the No. 6 car took a moment to honor one of their engineers, who is currently “fighting for his life,” as mentioned by Jaminet.
“This victory is for Zach LaGrone,” Tandy shared regarding the former Mazda DPi strategist and race engineer. “Our engineer, who is currently in the hospital, goes by the nickname Zebra. We’ve been carrying around the zebra plush toy with us.”
“We really wish he could be with us. I’m sure he’s watching over us.”
Cameron and Nasr maintain a 100-point lead in the drivers’ championship over Jaminet and Tandy with two endurance races still to go, at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans.
