Porsche Penske to Utilize Three-Driver Lineups for Imola

Photo: Porsche

Porsche Penske Motorsport will utilize three-driver lineups for the opening two rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship in order to have the “best possible preparation” for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The defending Hypercar world championship-winning driver crew of Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre will be joined by Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche 963 for both the Qatar 1812 km and 6 Hours of Imola, with Mathieu Jaminet alongside the team’s new full season pairing of Julien Andlauer and Michael Christensen in the No. 5 entry.

“That’s the current plan, to have three drivers at both Qatar and Imola,” said Porsche Penske managing director Jonathan Diuguid.

Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle added: “It’s the best possible preparation [for Le Mans] we can do.”

The factory Porsche squad will more than likely reduce to its core two-driver squads for the third round of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, due to Jaminet and Campbell’s full season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commitments at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca that same weekend, which will take priority.

Diuguid, however, didn’t rule out the team’s yet-to-be-confirmed third driver in its earmarked third Hypercar entry at the 24 Hours of Le Mans being put into service at Spa.

The team has reduced its core factory Hypercar lineup from ten to eight drivers for the 2025 seasons and will need an additional driver for the French endurance classic in its third 963, which has secured an auto-invite for winning the IMSA GTP title.

“In the next month-and-a-half or two we’ll probably have a clear direction and that’s before the Spa race, so we can make that decision when we understand it,” said Diuguid.

Diuguid said getting as much WEC seat time for Jaminet and Campbell prior to Le Mans is the primary reason for putting them in the car also for the Imola round.

“We’ve got some opportunities to test there too as well,” he said. “Mathieu, who didn’t get to run at Imola last year is going to have an opportunity to test at the track beforehand.

“It’s not just understanding the car, which he understands very well. It’s the engineering crews, it’s the Virtual Safety Car procedures and all the things as well. It’s just a really good opportunity.

“The more time that PPM drivers drive 963s, the better it is for everybody.”

When asked about the differences between two and three-driver squads in terms of the overall setup, he added: “If you do your driver pairings correctly, it doesn’t matter if you have two or three.

“But obviously you have to make two people happy rather than three on a weekend.

“There’s different phases of the race where guys are stronger and things like that. I think we’re pretty open. And the level of driver crews we have is quite high. We’re not really concerned.

“We’ve run IMSA six-hour races with two drivers for as long as I can remember too.

“There’s some differences like safety car periods where they can relax and things like that, but in general, unless there’s ambient condition concerns, we don’t really have any concerns over mental fitness.”

A decision on Porsche Penske’s WEC lineup composition post-Le Mans will be made at a later date.

“We don’t have to make any [immediate] decisions,” Diuguid added.

“The one thing is that we’re going to to two races with three drivers and one race without and we’ll get feedback from the engineering and driver crews specifically on if they say, ‘Hey, it’s not an impact or we want to do something different.’

“A lot of them are driving in [IMSA] as well. They’re going to have a seat at the table too as well. We’re pretty open to anything.”

Diuguid, however, said that Jaminet and Campbell will likely return to the WEC lineup for the Lone Star Le Mans event at Circuit of The Americas in September, as well as the already confirmed season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain.

“I think COTA or anything during the summertime is something we’re looking at,” he said. “Obviously we’ve raced at Watkins Glen when it’s extremely hot there too and done OK. The 963 has an air conditioning system, which helps.

“In general, the guys are really high fitness level and things like that. We’ll play it by ear.”