Jaminet Will “Keep Pushing” for First Victory of Season

Photo: Jordan Lenssen/Porsche

Mathieu Jaminet said he and Matt Campbell will “keep pushing” for their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the season, in a year that has so far gone in favor of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s sister GTP entry.

Jaminet and Campbell, who were joined by Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Porsche 963 for the opening two races, haven’t finished off the podium this year, although already sit 91 points behind teammates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy following the team and manufacturer’s impressive start to the season.

Both Porsche Penske entries look to continue their solid form in this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“Looking back at the start of the year, you can’t do much better than what has been done as a team,” said Jaminet.

“Our overall performance has been there for the first two events. This gives us a lot of confidence going into the sprint rounds.

“This is also something we’ve been really good at the last two years and we seem to have progressed from 2024 and be really strong in terms of operation and performance.

“I’m looking forward to the sprint format. This is something I really like in IMSA, with the shorter races, there’s a bit more excitement all the way through the race.

“Hopefully we can fight at the front again.”

Jaminet, who along with then-co-driver Tandy gave the Porsche 963 its first-ever victory in global competition at Long Beach in 2023, said he’s highly motivated to return to victory lane for the first time since Road America last year.

“Honestly, we keep pushing,” he said. “We’ve been really close to winning twice now. If I look back, even at the end of last year, I think we were really strong in the 6 car and came very close to winning a couple of races.

“I think we just have to keep on trying. The points lead is very important, so definitely now you also start to shift a little bit of your focus towards the championship.

“At Daytona and Sebring, you’re just thinking they’re big races that everybody wants to win.

“Obviously now we’re out front, so hopefully we can have some more strong weekends on Car 6 for important points.

“I’d like to taste champagne again from victory lane. That’s the plan.”

While only two races into the team’s revised driver pairings, Jaminet said he’s happy to have been reunited with longtime co-driver Campbell for their first full-season GTP campaign together, following previous championship-winning seasons in the GT ranks.

“It goes really well with Matt so far this year,” said Jaminet. “I have to say with Kevin, it was fitting really well into our driver crew.

“He’s a little bit different than us but it was working working extremely well with him.

“On one hand I’m going to miss him a bit but on the other hand, starting the short [races] with Matt, it’s a little bit of a different dynamic.

“We’re also going to tracks that we both really like in the upcoming events. Hopefully we can have some good performances in qualifying.

“I’m not too sure what the plan is for the next three events, but we’ve seen Matt in the past qualifying very well. If we can also start a bit more to the front, it could help us catch back in the championship and bring us the victory.”