FIA World Endurance Championship

Matt Campbell has wrapped up his fortnight in Bahrain with a second consecutive class podium. 
 
Contesting the Bahrain 8 Hour at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, the Queenslander played a major role in Dempsey-Proton Racing’s GTE-Am second place in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s last race for the year. 
 
Driving alongside regular teammates Christian Ried of Germany and New Zealander Jaxon Evans, the trio managed to repeat their efforts from last week, which saw them finish second in class at the Bahrain 6 Hour. 
 
The team showed plenty of promise throughout the three practice sessions, their best performance coming in practice two where they topped the class time sheets.  
 
Unfortunately, they were unable to bring that same pace to qualifying as they posted the ninth fastest time in class, giving them a huge task for the eight-hour endurance race. 
 
Despite the disappointing qualifying session, the three drivers were not deterred and went to another level during the race with each producing solid stints behind the wheel of the Porsche 911 RSR-19. 
 
As the race wore on, the trio managed to work their way up into second and just like last weekend they again found themselves in an intense battle with Team Project 1’s #56 Porsche 911 RSR-19s. 
 
Campbell was behind the wheel for the last stint and took the fight right to the last lap before pulling off a brilliant move to sneak past the rival Porsche and claim second place by just one tenth of a second. 
 
The runner-up finish saw the team cap off a tough campaign on a high with Campbell, Ried and Evans ending the championship in third place on the class standings.  
 
“That was a super race and a great end to the season,” Ried said post-race. 

“We moved up to third place in the championship so it couldn’t have gone better for us. Jaxon Evans and especially Matt Campbell put in an awesome fight – I thought I’d have a heart attack.  
 
“Matt wasn’t completely happy with the car during the last stint, but he fought hard and managed to gradually close the gap. Then on the last lap, in the last corner, he snatched second place.” 

Formula Regional Americas 

Joshua Car had a mixed weekend in the final round of the 2021 Formula Regional Americas season, which included his ninth podium for the year. 
 
Heading into the round at Circuit of the Americas in Texas firmly in second place, Car needed everything to go his way if he was going to win the title. 
 
However, with championship leader Kyffin Simpson grabbing pole and Car right behind him, his task was made significantly harder. 
 
Sadly, the New South Welshman’s title challenge was over by the end of the first race as he slipped down the order and crossed the finish line out of the points, putting him officially out of reach of the leader. 
 
He continued to struggle on Sunday in race two as he started from seventh but finished in eighth and Simpson won yet another race and further extended his lead at the top.  
 
Although he started the final race of the year in P11, Car stayed focused and produced his best performance for the weekend, climbing eight positions in the 15-lap race to finish comfortably in third place and on the podium for the first time since July.  

With Simpson winning the last race of the year, Car finished the season in second place and 96 points behind the champion.