IMSA WEATHERTECH SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP: MOTUL PETIT LE MANS

October 11, 2025

Matt Campbell

Jonathan Diuguid

Mathieu Jaminet

Urs Kuratle

Laurens Vanthoor

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by GTP champions in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. GTP champions in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963. From your left to right Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, co-drivers for today. Next to Matt, Laurens Vanthoor, and we also have Urs Kuratle, Porsche Director of Motorsport LMDH.

Things got a little interesting this morning. Had to draft in Laurens. Tell us what it means to bring home another title here.

MATHIEU JAMINET: Yeah, the day didn't start as good as we wish. It took us one hour, 40 to get to the track, which is good news because there is a lot of fans out there. So this is positive, but we nearly missed the (indiscernible) lap, so managed to work and (indiscernible) on the side of the road to get there.

Then we realize we have no third driver, so Larry jumped in, which he did great, by the way, so thank you, Larry, to jumping in. Saved our ass.

Then we went racing finally, and it went well. We had a very good car going into the race. The team did a really good prep. We still had some question marks after qualifying, you know, but we made the right choices on setups, and to say we had a good package is always nice. Yeah, here we are. Grabbed the podium and championship, so can't complain.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Mathieu. Tough act to follow, Matt. What's it mean to you?

MATT CAMPBELL: I think he summed up the day pretty well. Phenomenal to get another championship with Mathieu. That's two years in IMSA partnering together and two championships, so very proud of that.

Doing it next to a good friend with Mathieu, we've formed a really good partnership over the last years. Even though we might not have driven together in the last couple, coming back together this year it's worked phenomenally, and we've really hit the ground running.

For sure wasn't the whole year we wanted. From the start of the year lacking a little bit behind the 7, but I think it really showed our consistency and our drive together that put us in this position for the championship title. So very, very special day. A day I won't forget.

Extremely grateful to the whole team and Mathieu and also Larry stepping in. Unfortunately, Julien had the issue, but yeah, great day, and clinching every championship, so it makes it that much more special for the team as well.

THE MODERATOR: What are your thoughts on what transpired for you today? All of a sudden you needed to step in and pinch-hit.

LAURENS VANTHOOR: Yeah, it was a pretty unique day for me in that way. I think half an hour before the race we decided we had to do that. I think one hour in the race they told me, Larry, you're next. I said, Which car? We don't know yet. That was kind of how the day went.

In the end, there was no time to think about it. I just wanted to help Matt and Mathieu and the team. Mathieu gave me the car in the lead. First time in the 6 in the weekend, and hopefully not making a mistake. Do not mess up the championship.

It was a day for me to help them and not make mistakes, and I'm happy I could help a little part. Very happy to have been a part of the success of Porsche Penske. I think it's quite impressive, so it's an honor to be a part of it.

THE MODERATOR: 63 IMSA titles for Porsche. Especially given the news of the week, how sweet is this?

URS KURATLE: Yeah, first of all, I couldn't be prouder of the team and the drivers also. Thanks, Larry. He is well-paid, so it's okay.

We won championships. Having a back-to-back championship is quite remarkable, and I couldn't be any prouder to be part of the team.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How did the strategy change with having Larry in both cars, because I think pre-race the idea was to have the third driver do the middle stint in the middle of the day, and that had to sort of shake things up a bit.

URS KURATLE: It became a little bit of a mathematical game for driving times, et cetera, but after strategies, yeah, as usual they managed the situation really good, and drivers are flexible, everybody. The team was flexible today. At the end of the day, it did not matter too much.

Q. What happened with the 7 and Phillippi on the final lap? Do you know exactly? We didn't see it on the screen.

URS KURATLE: Yeah, I personally have to review it on the screen, but I see he was a little bit pushed out at the end, but we have to see. I have to review it. I haven't seen it in TV actually yet.

Q. Larry, how was it sort of driving both cars? Did they feel different setup-wise? Did you have a different seat that had to get fitted into for the 6? Were there any other challenges at this last-minute thing?

LAURENS VANTHOOR: No, very luckily we had the same base seat in both cars, which was on purpose. My inserts fitted in that seat.

It's a Porsche 963. As he said, it was a bit different. There are different ways of applying some tools, some software, but I felt comfortable in the car from the first laps. It actually went a lot smoother than you would think and than you would expect. Luckily, let's say. It was an interesting day.

Q. Mathieu, those closing stages of the race were quite complex with the late pit stop. Did you know you were going to have to pit to top up on fuel or...

MATHIEU JAMINET: Yeah, obviously we tried to stretch it and hoping to make it to the end. There was some saving that last stint, but yeah, the result of yellow was possible so at some point we just decided to follow 31 and, yeah, just giving up on taking too much risk and, yeah, trying to go more on the podium and trying to win the race and just taking too much risk and maybe taking yourself out of the race.

In the end quickly we realized, yeah, this is the target, and we kind of bring home at some point.

Q. At that position you were ahead of the Acura, so you knew you had the Manufacturer's Championship. Was that in your mind as well?

MATHIEU JAMINET: That's correct. Yeah, we knew we (indiscernible) everything. I think the 7 was a bit further back. Yeah, it was up to me and the team to for sure not do a mistake, a stupid mistake, that could be very costly in the very last minutes. I was pretty relaxed, but yeah, didn't make sense to push too much and take too much risk at that point.

Q. Given the news of the week and the potential implications, did it cross your mind that this would be potentially your and Mathieu's last race together?

MATT CAMPBELL: Yeah, for sure. These things cross your mind, but at the end of the day we all focus on the job at hand. We wanted to try and clinch this championship. What happens after this weekend is obviously a little bit out of our control, but nevertheless, try and make the most of these special moments because, yeah, to do it with this guy, it's a really good feeling, once again. Yeah, what the future holds we'll have to wait and see.

Q. When did Cam jam as your collective name stick around? About when did that start in?

MATT CAMPBELL: It could be earlier than that. We've been together since 2019. Obviously two years in IMSA and now two championships, so it's a very special partnership. Actually, since more or less we've been driving together, we've only finished outside of the either first or second in championship once. We've always been in contention all these years.

To finally be back together now after a couple of years away, it's really, really cool to be able to be in this position and say we're champions once again because, yeah, it's a phenomenal partnership. It's been working extremely well for a long time. Yeah, to come home with No. 1 is very special.

Q. Mathieu, anything to add?

MATHIEU JAMINET: No, let's see what the future brings. Might be same; maybe not. (Indisernible) -- if we are not on the same car, then it will be outside the racetrack, so we'll see.

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Penske Racing President, Jonathan Diuguid. This is the seventh championship for the team, second consecutive. Give us some perspective, if you could, to what this title means to this team.

JONATHAN DIUGUID: Yeah, I think it's difficult to put into perspective, to be honest, because you never go into a season expecting it.

But I think what put us here was the hard work of not just one driver, one group, or one person, but as a collective group and never giving up even though we were in the doldrums of the middle of the season, where the results weren't coming and frustration levels got high, but showed up here leading all the championships and left here leading all the championships.

That's kind of what we're -- what the main goal is and what we're trying to do and really happy to be able to be successful because some of them are really tight.

I think we were running the double digits very early on in the race, and one thing went our way, and we never gave it up after that.

Q. To Matt and Mathieu, my question for you two is, if there was one point in the season where it looked like it was like, okay, we can actually seize this championship, what was that point in the season where you guys said we actually think we can do it?

MATT CAMPBELL: I think we can both probably say and agree it was for sure Laguna was a turning point. I would say it was after Laguna where it really started to, you know, look like something was maybe going to be possible. Consistency is key in a championship run, and more or less from Laguna onwards that's where we were consistent and getting those valuable points.

Let's say we weren't always the most competitive car, but we were sort of punching above our weight in those races towards the end of the year and scoring those points, which is important, and making sure we finished races.

I would say that was definitely a bit of a turning point where we were able to see maybe there was something possible. For sure in the last races, you know, not making mistakes, doing good job, and yeah, that was a key point for our championship.

Q. Mathieu?

MATHIEU JAMINET: Well --

JONATHAN DIUGUID: It wasn't when we changed the chassis, that wasn't the turning point?

MATHIEU JAMINET: No, it started to get more (indiscernible) right after that, but yeah. I would say the expectations was to fight for a championship, to be very honest. Obviously when you start the season, you want to win. At the end of the day, this is what motivates us.

I've been pretty close with Nick the last few years. A few things didn't work out, out of our control, and we missed a shot. Yeah, this year coming back with Matt for sure we knew there would be a very good chance.

Yeah, start of the year was a little bit frustrating, but I always knew we have a championship shot. It was about staying on track, not making mistakes, and it's going to come our way.

This is exactly what happened, and we support each other. We do it on bad days. It was perfect. It worked out pretty well. Yeah, I cannot be more happy than today, that's for sure.

Q. I just wanted to get your perspective on the last minute Larry fill-in on the 6 and how that changed strategy. Because I think the plan was to run the third drivers for the middle portion of the race, and how did that shake things up with the two cars?

JONATHAN DIUGUID: Julien was pretty gutted to be in the situation he was in this morning, and not to give any of that away or whatever. But it was a pretty hectic hour before the start of the race, to be honest.

My hat's off to John Doonan and Bo and Paul Walter and everybody that made themselves available to help work through that difficult situation to change the driver last minute. Larry, honestly, stuck his hand up when it started going the wrong direction and said, Hey, I'll do whatever you guys need to do.

From that point, it was just management between the 6 and the 7 cars of the drive time. Obviously the 6 car did a more conventional driver rotation, but in the end I don't think it affected the 7 car negatively in either way.

In general, that's the strength of the group we have. I think Jaminet has the base seat for everybody, so we can swap seats from car to car without major issues. Larry was ready to go and jumped in. Did a great job.

Q. Laurens, I know we talked about you jumping in the car. How was the pressure of the whole situation because you're not just jumping in a different car. You're jumping in a car that's in the middle of a championship fight, and you're going to be a key part of that during the race. I guess you didn't have a lot of time to think about it before you did it, but...

LAURENS VANTHOOR: No, honestly, there was no time to think about it. It had to be done.

Yeah, like I said before, I got the car in the lead, and I know these guys are fighting for the championship. The very last thing you want to do is make a mistake or to mess it up.

Honestly, at this point you don't think about it. Now in hindsight maybe, but I was just trying to do the best that I could in the situation. Yeah, very, very happy for both of them that they managed to pull this off and could help 1%.