Sometime three years ago, when Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet were on their way to winning the IMSA GTD PRO Championship with Pfaff Motorsports, collective nicknames for the pair were pitched.
Ultimately, portions of the sports car racing collective settled on “CamJam,” the way their Porsche seniors Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor came to be known as “BamThor” when they raced together in IMSA.
“We’ve been driving together since 2019,” Campbell said, referring back to their emergence in top-level GT3 racing after success in Porsche one-make competition. “Two years in IMSA, and two championships – it’s a very special partnership. And actually, since we’ve been driving together, we’ve only finished outside of either first or second in a championship once.”
“CamJam” reunited this offseason after two seasons apart, and after nine gruelling races, they’ve won another IMSA Championship. This time, it’s in the premier GTP category for the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport outfit. Campbell and Jaminet led the way as PPM retained every IMSA GTP title – including the Michelin Endurance Cups – at the Driver, Team, and Manufacturer level.
“It’s phenomenal to get another championship with Mathieu,” Campbell continued. “That’s two years in IMSA partnering together, and two championships. Very proud of that.
“We’ve formed a really good partnership over the last few 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.
“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.”
But with the announcement this week that Porsche Penske Motorsport would withdraw from the FIA WEC after 2025, focusing on its two-car IMSA GTP effort, and with several factory drivers’ futures with Porsche looking uncertain, Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans may have been the last race for Campbell and Jaminet as co-drivers at Porsche.
“For sure, these things cross my mind,” Campbell admitted, “but at the end of the day, we’re all focused on the job at hand, and we wanted to try and clinch this championship.
“What happens after this weekend is obviously a little bit out of our control, but nevertheless, I try and make the most of these special moments.
“To do it with this guy,” he gestured towards Jaminet, “it’s a really good feeling once again.”
It’s a fact that Porsche Penske will only have room for four full-time factory GTP drivers next year, not enough to accommodate Jaminet, Campbell, Tandy, Nasr, and the four displaced WEC Hypercar drivers. Porsche will announce its 2026 factory driver line-ups in due time.
Should it come to pass that Jaminet and Campbell are separated in 2026, it would be the sixth season in a row that the driver and team combination that won IMSA’s top-level prototype championship (in either DPi or GTP) would not remain intact the following year.
And it would be the end of a partnership that’s succeeded at every level through great chemistry and exceptional driving ability, even in a relatively short time together.
“What the future holds, we’ll have to wait and see,” Campbell admitted.
“I might miss him… maybe not,” added a jovial Jaminet. “But let’s see. We’ll still get to hang out around each other. If it’s not in the same car, then we’ll be outside the race track. Easy.”
Third place ended up being enough for Jaminet, Campbell, and Porsche to win the GTP trophies. But the day started off on a sour note for the crew of the #6 Porsche 963, not long after a delayed arrival due to inbound traffic from an announced sell-out crowd.
They got the news that third driver Julien Andlauer could not drive due to what was described in a press release as a medical emergency. Andlauer later revealed on social media that he was suffering from back pain after a few checks at the circuit, so Laurens Vanthoor would have to drive both 963s at some point in the race.
As Jaminet recalled, his morning was quite stressful: “It took us one hour 40 to get to the track because there’s a lot of fans out there, so this is positive. But we nearly missed the recon lap, so Matt had to walk another 3K on the side of the road to get there.
“Then we realised we have no third driver, so ‘Larry’ (Vanthoor) jumped in. He did great, by the way – so thank you for jumping in and saving our ass!
“And 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, but we made the right choices on setups, and I have to say we had a competitive package in the day, but also in the night.
“So here we are. Grabbed the podium and the championship, so I can’t complain!”
Though they only won one race this year, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Campbell says that win was a turning point in the season after three straight podium finishes behind the sister #7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, who revelled in three straight wins to open the season.
“For sure, Laguna was a turning point,” Campbell said. “I would say it was after Laguna where it really started to, you know, look like something was maybe going to be possible.”
Aided by a mid-season chassis change for the #6 crew, Campbell and Jaminet remained consistent, only finishing outside the top five once all season – even after a Balance of Performance override at Detroit tilted the competitive edge back towards the struggling Acuras and Cadillacs.
That consistency also helped Porsche keep the Manufacturers’ Championship after a surge from Acura in the second half of the year.
“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,” Campbell added.
“Let’s say we weren’t always the most competitive car, but we were 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.”
They still have the WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain left to run in November, though they’ll be in separate cars – with Campbell assisting Vanthoor and Kévin Estre’s push for a come-from-behind Hypercar World Drivers’ Championship title, and Jaminet with Andlauer and Michael Christensen in the other factory Porsche 963.
What comes next is far beyond the horizon of this weekend’s last chapter in an amazing season, for two drivers who’ve made such an incredible impact in a relatively short time together in North American sports car racing – and who have many great years of success ahead of them.
Images courtesy of Porsche & Jack Webster
