Campbell leads the way for Porsche in third day of Sebring test

IMSA’s three-day sanctioned test at Sebring International Raceway concluded with the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 setting the quickest time of the day in consecutive days.

After Mathieu Jaminet led Wednesday’s leaderboard in GTP, it was co-driver Matt Campbell’s turn to do the same on Thursday morning. The best lap of 1m48.215s wasn’t just the leading time of the day, but the best time of the entire test.

The No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R was second fastest in the morning session with a 1m48.576 turned in by Louis Deletraz. Deletraz and Jordan Taylor split time in the No. 10 Cadillac as their regular No. 40 was unavailable due to damage sustained in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. \In third place was Felipe Nasr aboard the No.7 Penske Porsche (1m48.613s).

The No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie continued to find pace and log laps after some troubles to start yesterday. Tom Gamble, added to the car today after two days in the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, turned in the car’s best lap of the day, a 1m50.097s, during the final session in the afternoon.

That afternoon session was led by the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R of Earl Bamber (1m48.996s), followed by the two bare carbon BMW M Team RLL cars — the No.25 M Hybrid V8 of Marco Wittmann and the No.24 of Dries Vanthoor. The top four in this seventh and final session of the week were separated by just 0.056s, going back to fourth-place Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 WTR Cadillac.

20 cars were scheduled to run today at Sebring, but in a disappointing turn of events, the No. 63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63 did not run due to a mechanical problem discovered during yesterday’s tests.

“We were caught off-guard with a premature issue. We therefore preferred to analyze the issue at our workshop and end the testing program early,” a spokesperson for the team explained. “We have been analyzing all the data collected from the first test day and are working on a robust solution in time for Sebring race. We cannot comment further for now.”

Romain Grosjean ran 95 laps in the Lamborghini yesterday with a best time of 1m49.926s.

Of note, Penske IndyCar Series stars Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden each got to drive the No. 6 and No. 7 Porsches respectively during the final day of the test. Comparing the two, McLaughlin did 92 laps with a best time of 1m49.453s, versus 44 laps and a best time of 1m50.334s from 2024 Daytona winner Newgarden.

Antonio Serravalle, the former Isotta Fraschini Hypercar driver, was a late addition to JDC-Miller MotorSports’ line-up for this test. The young Canadian did 54 laps in the No. 85 Porsche, and his best lap was one-tenth up on the best from Englishman Sennan Fielding, who completed 57 laps.

In LMP2, the morning session was led by Paul di Resta in the Daytona class-winning No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA 07, with a 1m49.957s. Bijoy Garg was second fastest for Inter Europol Competition, and Hunter McElrea was third for TDS Racing.

Felipe Fraga set the fastest time in the afternoon aboard the No. 74 Riley ORECA, with McElrea in second, and Mathias Beche in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA — now in its fresh teal livery for 2025 — in third place.