MOTORSPORT: Aussie lands top Porsche prototype seat

Young Australian Matt Campbell will help spearhead Porsche’s return to the top of world sports car racing in 2023, where he will line up with Porsche Penske Motorsport aboard the outfit’s new 963 prototype racer.

Announced at the weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the move is the culmination of an eight-year climb up the Porsche ladder for Campbell, who has known for over a year that he was in line for a drive in the new program.

The squad will field a pair of the cars in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with a driving pool featuring Campbell, Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor, Mathieu Jaminet, Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr.

Driver combinations for each program are yet to be announced, however, Campbell has his heart set on the North American-based series, in which he is currently a fixture aboard a Porsche GT entry.

“It’s nice to finally get it off my chest. Now that it is finally announced, it is a big relief,” said Campbell.

After first sampling a Penske prepared LMP2 prototype last year, early testing for Campbell in the 963 has focused on Porsche’s development facility at Weissach in Germany, Motorland Aragón in Spain and in the simulator.

“I’ve been in the car a couple of times now. I need a lot more miles, that’s for sure, but I’m feeling comfortable already, and now the testing will switch over to the US as well.

“There are a lot of us drivers who don’t have a lot of prototype experience, so the next six months will be critical in finalising car development, but also getting comfortable in the car and getting used to the systems.”

The move by Porsche sees the brand join a string of manufacturers who plan to take on Toyota Gazoo Racing at the highest level of global sports car racing, with notable announcements to date coming from Peugeot, Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW, Cadillac, Alpine and Acura. Others are waiting in the wings to commit, alongside multiple privateer efforts.

The Penske-Porsche collaboration is also significant, with the combination enjoying success dating back to the Can-Am Series in the 1970s with the legendary 917/30 model, and later in the American Le Mans Series with the RS Spyder.

For Campbell, the road to the top has been swift; the Queensland native rose through the Porsche ranks in Australia, winning the Carrera Cup title in 2016 after claiming 14 victories.

From there he won the Porsche Junior Program Shootout, placing him in the F1-supporting Porsche Supercup for 2017, when he claimed four victories en route to third in the final standings.

Subsequently, Campbell was signed on by Porsche as a part of its global GT efforts, with his successes to date including class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2018), the 24 Hours of Daytona (2022), the 12 Hours of Sebring (2021), Petit Le Mans (2020) and the 24 Hours of Dubai (2018), while in 2019 he won the Bathurst 12 Hour following a stunning final stint.

This year his central focus has been on the IMSA SportsCar Championship, in which he currently leads the GTD Pro standings following wins at Daytona and Laguna Seca.

Campbell also has three Supercars endurance race campaigns under his belt, including for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen, while he is scheduled to return to the Bathurst 1000 this October to partner reigning champion Lee Holdsworth at Grove Racing.

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au