Against the odds, Porsche Penske Motorsport stood on the podium on a day dominated by Ferrari and its 499P trio.
Campbell’s co-driver Kevin Estre did the heavy lifting in the early hours of the race, taking them from last in class to first.
Campbell, Estre, and Laurens Vanthoor ultimately came up short. In a race where Ferrari looked like they might trip over each other, the #6 Porsche 963 stayed out of trouble.
It was, for all intents and purposes, a faultless race for Campbell and co. However, he couldn’t deny the disappointment of being the bridesmaid.
“As an Aussie, we’d say we’re probably a little bit pissed to finish P2,” Campbell said, speaking with Australian media after the race.
“We want to win this race, and for sure the program with the 963 and with Roger [Penske] and everyone at Porsche Motorsport, it was clear what we wanted to try achieve and try get our first overall victory with the 963 at Le Mans and the 20th overall for Porsche.
“Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to bring that home. We had to settle for P2. The Ferraris did a great race as well and were a little bit better than us. So we’ll come back next year and try to finish [the job].”
The fact that Campbell, Estre, and Vanthoor even stood on the podium was a remarkable feat in itself.
AF Corse entered three cars, which all looked like they would feature on the podium when the final quarter of the race began.
Ultimately, speeding penalties, mistakes, and some in-fighting allowed Porsche to get a sniff of the win.
“That was critical for our result today with the competition being so strong,” Campbell explained.
“I think it goes to show all the Ferraris made a helluva lot of mistakes in the race. A lot of drive-throughs, a lot of penalties, and it just goes to show their speed is always coming back to the front so quickly and so easily.
“They tried to throw it away many, many times even with the fastest car. I’m glad we were able to do the best job possible with our package.”
Campbell said he was proud of his performance and that of the team. Staying out of trouble was the name of the game.
In the end, after 24 gruelling hours, they finished 14 seconds behind the race-winning #83 Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei, and Phil Hanson.
“We were running up front in more or less the top five all race long and obviously more or less in the top three for the middle half of the race,” said Campbell.
“I would say for a 24-hour race, especially Le Mans, you can’t really expect much better. No mistakes, no penalties, no drive-throughs, and not even any contact on the car.
“We’ve done everything in our power to be able to try and get the best result possible, but unfortunately we just didn’t have the speed to be able to take it to Ferrari.
“When they turned it up, they were just a little bit too quick for us. Still, to be able to finish in P2, against the competition we had, I think really goes to show the level of the team.
“We did a great strategy there in the last four to five hours and really sticking to our strategy. To be honest, it really paid off well.
“Not much else to say. The team did a phenomenal job, no mistakes, and the car worked faultlessly all 24 hours. We could just push from the very beginning.”
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