MATT CAMPBELL continues to forge his international career in Europe this season as a Porsche factory junior driver.

The former Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion has had a busy start to his year and documents his travels and experiences for The Race Torque in a unique first-person perspective on his year so far.

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IT HAS been a crazy busy start to the year so far since being back in Germany.

I came back over straight after the Bathurst 12hr in February and since then there’s been plenty of testing and racing miles completed.

This year I am mostly racing the Porsche 911 RSR – the step up from the GT3 Cup Car I raced in Supercup last year and the GT3R that competes in GT3 races, like Bathurst.

The RSR is the LeMans LM GTE car and it’s an evolutionary step up from the other cars, just with ‘more’ of everything.

It’s still a Porsche, after all, but it just has a little more power, more aerodynamics and a few other goodies which makes the transition a little easier – especially when all the cars and models are getting closer and closer each year.

That’s not the only difference because while I spent most of last year I sprint racing mode, this year is all about the long-distance races.

The race weekends couldn’t be more different, especially to Supercup last year.

Supercup is a little special even to most series as you are only on track once a day when following the Formula One calendar – so there’s plenty of spare time to lounge around!

The same can’t be said for the WEC (World Endurance Championship) though, in fact it’s really the complete opposite. I quite enjoy the endurance side of things and have done so since I started in long distance races; you get a lot of track time and you are kept busy in engineering meetings and then two or three sessions a day.

It’s also all on the world stage with lots of people watching!

We came so close to a win at Spa. After ending up quickest in practice then and getting Pole in LMGTE-AM when our times were combined, we had a fuel pressure problem two hours into the race and in the end we went down two laps and finished fourth. In the end, though, it’s a long championship and points finishes at every round will be good for us.

As well as racing in the World Endurance Championship, this year I am also racing the Porsche 911 GT3R in other pretty major long-distance races..
So far, I’ve raced in two VLN Endurance events on the Nurburgring Nordscleife, which led into the Nurburgring 24 Hour. There was a lot of laps in a short space of time because straight before the 24-hour we were at Spa for the first round of the WEC.. Lots of miles on epic tracks!
Both were awesome experiences – especially ticking off the Nürburgring 24 Hour, which as incredible.

We finished 11th in the end, and it was by far and away the craziest and most dangerous race I’ve ever taken part in! It’s really something else and want to do more of it because it’s addictive!

In the end it was a little frustrating for us being on the Dunlop tyre to most of the front runners who were on Michelins. We just didn’t quite have near the pace in the wet conditions which was half the race distance! Still, it was a great result and really satisfying.

Picking a favourite moment from that race is hard to do because I was extremely lucky to be in the car at some special times throughout the weekend!

Qualifying the car and taking part in the top 30 shootout, where it’s just you and the Nordscleife with no traffic, to starting the race with 100,000+ crazy German fans with flares and fires and then going out for my fourth stint, I think at 2:30 to 3:00am, in the pitch black. That just happened to be my first laps in the rain around there, too!

Not being able to see 50 meters in front of you, sometimes when in traffic and hoping it’s clear ahead, while doing 200+ km/hr is pretty eye opening!
Next up we head to LeMans for the test and then my first ever LeMans 24 Hour.

Getting the opportunity to race in that iconic event in just my second year of racing in Europe with Porsche is very special – it will be the highlight of my year to date! The official test was a great experience, and I’ve also completed my mandatory FIA simulator training for the event. It’s going to be quite the experience. The event has great coverage so hopefully people are watching how we go during the race.

We ended the test day quickest in the LM GTE-Am class, which was a great result, but we know there’s lots more to do. It’s going to be a really tough race.. though it’s nice to be on the pace early!

Finally, it’s nice to see my mates at McElrea Racing still going well in Carrera Cup and GT3 Cup Challenge.

As I was prepping for the LeMans test, my old Championship-winning GT3 Cup Car rig was running at Phillip Island and getting some great results.. it’s great fun to watch the boys in action and I’m still following it all very closely from afar.

WORDS: Matt Campbell