Newgarden and Vanthoor Team Up in Porsche 963 for the IMSA Season Finale

Porsche Penske Motorsport is gearing up for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale at Road Atlanta with a reconfigured driver lineup. In the upcoming “Petit Le Mans” event, the regular crews will receive a boost from two renowned talents: reigning Indianapolis 500 champion and two-time INDYCAR Champion, Josef Newgarden from the USA, and Belgian driver Laurens Vanthoor. They will both take the helm as the third driver in the cockpits of the two Porsche 963 factory cars for this ten-hour endurance race, scheduled for October 14.

The factory drivers of the Porsche Penske Motorsport hybrid prototypes are set to receive strong support for the championship’s eleventh and final round this year. In the number 6 Porsche 963, Briton Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet from France will join forces with their colleague, Laurens Vanthoor. Vanthoor, who is also part of the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory lineup in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), is well-acquainted with the GTP race car under LMDh regulations. Meanwhile, Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden will team up with Australian driver Matt Campbell and Brazilian racer Felipe Nasr in the number 7 car.

“Porsche Penkse Motorsporst has chosen to add Laurens Vanthoor and Josef Newgarden to our Petit Le Mans line up,“ said Managing Director, Jonathan Diuguid. „Laurens has raced at Road Atlanta in the Porsche 911 RSR and he will be able to add his experience from racing in the WEC for PPM. Josef brings a different dynamic as this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, it will be something very exciting for the team as well as himself. Josef has increased his exposure to sportscar racing already in 2023 with a test in the Team Penske LMP2, as well as raced in Daytona in 2023. In addition, he got his first exposure to the 963 in early June at Road America. With several testing days for the team at Road Atlanta, we are confident that both Laurens and Josef will be fully prepared to deliver for the team and have a positive result in the final race of the season.”

Both the Tandy/Jaminet duo and Campbell with Nasr have achieved victories during the inaugural year of the Porsche 963 in IMSA. The number 6 car secured a win at the 100-minute sprint race on the Long Beach street circuit, while the number 7 Porsche replicated this triumph more recently at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

Read the full article from Porsche Newsroom here.