Tag: Dane Cameron

Cameron weighing next move after surprise PPM exit

Win the championship. Lose your ride. What a bizarre scenario for Dane Cameron, IMSA’s most successful driver since the championship’s relaunch in 2014. But that’s precisely what took place earlier in the month, shortly after the completion of Motul …

Win the championship. Lose your ride. What a bizarre scenario for Dane Cameron, IMSA’s most successful driver since the championship’s relaunch in 2014.

But that’s precisely what took place earlier in the month, shortly after the completion of Motul Petit Le Mans, when the Porsche Penske Motorsport driver was farewelled by the team and manufacturer after sealing the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP title for the brand with co-drivers Felipe Nasr and Matt Campbell. Did Cameron lose a step? Or did full-season partner Nasr have a banner year? No answers were given in the decision to part ways with the new four-time IMSA champion.

With a statement-making victory to open the season at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, a second endurance win at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, and seven podiums from nine races, the call to replace Cameron is especially odd, but the 36-year-old knew a change was imminent.

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“It’s strange, for sure, but I knew before the last race,” Cameron told RACER. “It’s a weird feeling to go through the whole motion of winning the championship, chasing it, still fighting for it, and knowing you’re not coming back to the project. Obviously, I’m really proud of the year. Daytona was a pretty huge moment for me, just as something that’s been incredibly difficult to win. It’s a really nice feeling to have that one off your back. That was the one thing I wanted, above all else, so to get that and the championship in the same year is awesome. But they didn’t want to move forward with me, which is a new feeling to come off the back of a championship, having won a fair few now and again.”

In the 11 seasons that have come from the new-era WeatherTech Championship which was formed as a blended family for the former American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am Rolex Series, Cameron earned Drivers’ championship honors in 2014 with Turner Motorsport in GTD in a BMW Z4, in 2016 with Action Express Racing in a Corvette Daytona Prototype in the top Prototype class, in 2019 with the factory Acura Team Penske squad in a Acura ARX-05 in the DPi category, and once more in 2024 for the factory PPM team in GTP with a Porsche 963 hybrid.

Four championships and 20 race wins over that span of nine IMSA seasons — one was spent idling in 2022 as the 963 effort came together, and he was deployed to the FIA WEC in 2023 with the 963 — has moved the 36-year-old into lofty territory.

But if ever there was a reminder of how the joys of racing are counterbalanced by the cold side of business, Cameron’s new reality speaks to the sport’s volatile nature. Although it remains unconfirmed, he’s likely headed to a top LMP2 team in 2025 – AO Racing is thought to head the list – where his speed and experience are coveted.

“Having to be picking up the phone and trying to drum up the next opportunity is also strange, but you know, it is what it is, as our friend [Juan Palbo] Montoya says,” Cameron said. “Life goes on. It’s just racing. I do have something I would say is lined up; not really ready to go public. But I feel pretty good about what’s coming up next, for sure.”

Having won a IMSA DPi title for Penske and Acura with Montoya, Cameron was a natural fit for Penske’s return to sports car racing with Porsche. In a relationship that began in 2018, the Californian was the last of Penske’s DPi drivers to continue in a frontline role for the team, and while the change is still settling in, it sounds like Cameron welcomes a change of pace.

“It’s been a really tough project, honestly, so in some ways, it’s sad to leave such a big, prestigious program, but it’s been really tough on me, tough on my family, and there’s been some really pretty bad moments, to be honest, some pretty low moments,” he said.

“So I’m feeling ready to turn the page as well, and get back to basics and have some fun and feel fortunate to have my wife and my family to support me. I was an open-wheel guy at one time, but I call myself a career sports car guy. I always just wanted to be a race car driver. I really didn’t care what it was, what flavor it was, who was going to be in the other seat, if there was even another seat. I just wanted to drive and indulge that passion that we all have when we were kids in karting.

“So, yeah, I’ve achieved probably way more than I ever dreamed that I would in sports cars, and I still feel I have a lot more to give. I’m super proud to have four championships; it feels like a really big number to say. But I really feel like five and six are pretty attainable, to be honest, so I don’t plan to stop now or anytime soon.”

Penske Porsche’s Cameron leads opening Watkins Glen practice

The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 sat at the top of the time chart after the 90-minute first practice session for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, courtesy of Dane’ Cameron’s 1m34.175s (129.97mph) lap, accomplished quite early in the …

The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 sat at the top of the time chart after the 90-minute first practice session for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, courtesy of Dane’ Cameron’s 1m34.175s (129.97mph) lap, accomplished quite early in the session. The time was about a second off the GTP lap record, which was set in last year’s race after qualifying was rained out.

The first session was expected to be impacted by weather, as is Sunday’s race, but the worst was a few drops on windshields, never enough to cause tricky track conditions. The session was interrupted twice by red flags, both for the same car. John Farano spun the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 car and made contact with the barrier in Turn 1 about 18 minutes into the session, causing a six-minute stoppage. The car was repaired quickly with a new wing and bodywork, and then Charlie Eastwood had a bigger crash with 14m remaining, causing a 10-minute red flag.

Tom Blomqvist set the second-quickest time in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, 0.172s off Cameron’s best, with Filipe Albuquerque third at 1m34.452s in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06. Philip Eng made it four manufacturers in the top four in the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, with Nick Tandy completing the top five in the No. 6 PPM 963.

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Mikkel Jensen edged out Felipe Fraga for the top time in LMP2 by only 0.046s, his 1m35.531s (128.13mph) lap in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA enough to keep the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA off the top. Nico Varrone, fresh off an LMP2 Pro-Am victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a late addition to the No. 81 DragonSpeed entry, was third at 1m35.636s. Eastwood put the No. 8 in fourth before his crash, and Connor Zilisch completed the top five in the championship-leading No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA.

AO Racing got off to a good start in its attempt to take three consecutive GTD PRO victories in the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, as Laurin Heinrich topped all the GT cars with a 1m45.242s (116mph) lap. He was followed in the GT ranks by the GTD-class No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes AMG, Scott Andrews putting in the best lap at 1m45.402s.

Bryan Sellers put the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M 4 GT3 into second in GTD PRO at 1m45.590s, 0.174s quicker than Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. Antonio Garcia (No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R) and Daniel Serra (No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3) rounded out the top five in GTD PRO.

A pair of Ferraris were second and third in GTD behind Andrews, Alessio Rovera turning in a 1m45.862s time in the No. 023 Triarsi Competizione 296 for second and Miguel Molina 0.137s back in the No. 21 AF Corse 296. Andy Lally put the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo into fourth, with Robby Foley fifth in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4.

The second practice session takes place tomorrow morning, the 90-minute session beginning at 9:10am ET.

RESULTS

For Cameron, a Rolex win years in the making

Winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a career highlight for any driver, but for Dane Cameron, the victory was especially sweet and emotional. Cameron has three IMSA championships, including one with Penske in the Acura days. But through all of those, …

Winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona is a career highlight for any driver, but for Dane Cameron, the victory was especially sweet and emotional. Cameron has three IMSA championships, including one with Penske in the Acura days. But through all of those, including title with Turner Motorsport and Action Express Racing, he had yet to achieve even a class victory at Daytona.

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“My first 24 hours at Daytona was 2009, so in a bunch of different categories, I just never seemed to have any luck here in any way, shape, or form,” Cameron said. “Never had a podium here. Never. I don’t even know if I’ve ever finished on the lead lap here, to be honest. It’s always been the one that got away, and the one that just didn’t seem to be able to get done for some reason. Kind of compared to what Josef [Newgarden] went through last year at the [Indianapolis] 500 – you don’t want to not have one without the other. You don’t want to win championships without having the big race to go with it.

“Definitely proud of everything that I was able to achieve with different teams and brands in the championship, but it always felt like you were missing something to not have success in the 24 Hours at Daytona. To have that as an overall is definitely something that I’m super, super proud of; super happy for. Great to do it with this team, as well, after being here for a number of years now. Kind of slipped through our fingers in the Acura days, for sure.”

Matt Campbell, who formed part of the winning driver line-up alongside Felipe Nasr, Newgarden and Cameron, was Nasr’s full-season partner in 2023, but for this season he’s swapping with Cameron and going to the World Endurance Championship program for PPM. Like Nasr, it’s not his first Daytona win – the pair won GTD PRO together, along with Mathieu Jaminet, with Pfaff Motorsports in 2022 – but it is his first overall.

“I’m glad it came our way,” Campbell said. “After all the hard work, the difficult year we had in 2023, especially here, I feel this is the best gift we could give ourselves. I’m very pleased for the team, for the whole work they’ve done all week.”

Rolex 24, Hour 24: After 55 years, Penske triumphs at Daytona again

The first caution in four hours set up a 30m sprint to the finish of the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, rapidly changing the fortunes of several competitors. Vasser Sullivan Racing’s hopes for a GTD victory went up in flames, literally, in the final …

The first caution in four hours set up a 30m sprint to the finish of the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona, rapidly changing the fortunes of several competitors.

Vasser Sullivan Racing’s hopes for a GTD victory went up in flames, literally, in the final hour. Leaving the pits, Parker Thompson pulled the No. 12 Lexus RC F over with flames spitting out of the engine compartment. Team principal Jimmy Vasser expected the cause was a plenum fire.

 

The ensuing caution, though, erased big leads in LMP2 and GTD, and set up a four-way battle to the finish in GTP. Tom Blomqvist had held the lead in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, but Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 beat him out of the pits as both took short fills. The top four GTP competitors were nose to tail for the restart, Louis Deletraz holding third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.

Blomqvist did all he could, including setting the fastest lap of race at 1m35.554s with 23m left, but he couldn’t make a move on Nasr while the Porsche got better breaks in traffic. When the checker fell right after 1:40 p.m. with 1m35s left on the race clock, Nasr took the victory for he, Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Josef Newgarden. It was the first Rolex 24 at Daytona victory for each driver, and the first for Penske since 1969 when he won the race with a Lola T70.

Blomqvist took the Cadillac across the line to score second for Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken. Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta and Jenson Button finished third in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.

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Christian Rasmussen held his lead in the No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA O7 Gibson to take victory for he, Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and Connor Zilisch. The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA of George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Malthe Jakobsen and Toby Sowery, ahead of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga, Josh Burdon and Felipe Massa in the No, 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA.

Daniel Serra had a lap on second place Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche that was erased with the caution, but the Porsche had nothing for Serra’s No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrrari 296 GT3. Serra held on for Risi’s first victory in its Ferrari era, and second victory after an SRP2 win in 2002. Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado’s win was also the second 24-hour race victory for the 296 GT3, the first coming in the 2023 24 Hours of the Nürburgring with Frikadelli Racing.

Polesitters AO Racing with Seb Priaulx, Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen ended up second. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing, which had looked to have a chance at victory going into the final hours, fell victim to a brake problem and the team scored a third-place finish for Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen and Sheldon van der Linde.

Winward Racing took its second Rolex 24 victory in four years after Daniel Morad held off a pair of charging Ferraris. The No. 57 Mercedes AMG was third overall for a 2.731s margin of victory for Morad, Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje. It was Ferrari 296 GT3 in second and third, Miguel Molina, Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera taking second for AF Corse and Conquest Racing’s Manny Franco, Alberto Costa Balboa, Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli taking third.

Full reports to follow.

RESULTS