Nick Tandy told reporters before this weekend’s six-hour IMSA race at Indianapolis that Porsche are prepared to do “something risky” if it has a small chance to paying off, amid a close manufacturer title fight between Porsche and Cadillac in the IMSA Sportscar Championship.
Replying to Motorsport Week amongst selected media in a briefing, the #6 Porsche Penske 963 driver said:
“I’m not interested in finishing second or third. So the main aim, and this is for every season that we go into, is to get a Porsche car to the front and to get Porsche manufacturer points.
“… It would be great to finish first and second in team points. But at the same time, if there’s a chance to do something risky and potentially lose points to the #01 or any of the others against a smaller chance of something else paying off, we would probably go for it.
“Because I would imagine the normal tactics will be the #7 car will play the safe strategy being ahead on points.
“And then maybe the #6 when we do, you know, if there’s a situation where it might pay to split strategies, we’d probably tend to go on the option, let’s say.
“So yeah, from the team’s point of view, we just need one car in front at all times.
“And most of the time, it doesn’t matter which, unless we’re both together and then we can, we can manipulate the places.
“So, yeah, we’re not really looking from behind. It’s just manufacturer versus manufacturer really at the moment.”
Tandy won last year’s 160-minute sprint race edition with his current #6 co-driver Mathieu Jaminet, as well as the most recent GTP race this year, the Sportscar Weekend at Road America.
Penske consider the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course as their home venue, and so the Penske-run factory Porsche team are looking to claim a third consecutive win for the Weissach make on 22 September.
The #6 pair are currently second in the standings behind the sibling #7 car at 100 points behind yet also 85 points ahead of the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Boardais.
Cadillac are second in the manufacturers’ standings behind Porsche, as the #6’s best Endurance Cup finish this year was third at the Six Hours of the Glen.
In order to continue the upper hand on the General Motors manufacturer, both Porsche Penske GTPs will work together to secure the same 1-2 finish as last year’s Battle on the Bricks.
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