VSCAracing.com: What’s up Aedan and Vincent! Thank you so much for interrupting your weekend for this interview, I really appreciate it guys. Congratulations again winning at Road America and the 2022 VSCA Sprint Cup championship! Did you have a chance yet to celebrate a little bit?
Vincent: A little bit. I was so proud of it; I told my coworkers about it and they called me up right away ‘Nerd. Get out of here!’ (laughing). But they were happy for me, also in the team. They said ‘That’s awesome! Congrats!’. So, it was good fun.
Aedan: Yeah, I had a small celebration, a couple beers, lounged around the house to enjoy the rest of the weekend. But since then, I’m just looking forward to getting to the next race.
V: As a German, I have to ask: Any German beer, that you had? (laughing)
Aedan: Nah, it was a local New Jersey brew. Not quite German beer, but it’s still pretty good.
V: Allow me to summarize your Sprint Cup season quickly. You guys had an amazing championship run in the Sprint Cup. You started with second place at Laguna Seca, second again at Mid-Ohio, then your first win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and to cap it off another win at Road America to win the Sprint Cup – your Sprint Cup season was nearly perfect, never finishing worse than second. How did you do it?
Aedan: I remember all the second places. And I felt like we were second quite a lot. As far as how we managed to do it; we just stuck to our gameplan of keeping it clean and not getting race control into too many of our battles on track and bringing it home; and a couple of surprising wins in the long run there.
Vincent: Yeah, I think our main goal was just to keep it on track, like Aedan said. Keep it clean, not do stupid mistakes, just lapping to a lap time, essentially. Eventually the races came to us and it was great to get those wins.
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| Aedan Campbell from Middletown, New Jersey joined Kinetic Racing in 2021 and won the VSCA Sprint Cup with the No. 67 Porsche team in the first season |
V: Incredibly enough, you were still not in the championship lead going into Road America. Actually you trailed Torque Freak Racing’s No. 6 Porsche by 30 points. What did the points battle feel like for you guys and how did you stay focused and sharp mentally and not get distracted?
Vincent: Well, basically just from the get-go, setup-wise, Aedan and myself we’d find a setup that works and kind of tweak it slowly. Basically, we just put in the time, and we just wanted to get a decent finish. We knew Road America, I like that track, Aedan likes it also, we said ‘Man, we have a chance here, to do really good.’. So, I think we put in more laps than we did in any of the other rounds, which obviously paid off. But we were quite surprised when Torque Freak Racing was qualifying near the back. We were like: ‘Oh man, they screwed up their qualifying. So here is our chance! Let’s keep it clean!’.
V: Is it entering your mind, what the points battle looks like, as you’re battling on the track or are you trying to push that out of your mind, as the race goes along?
Vincent: It’s totally in our minds. I mean there is times, when there is a prototype that’s flying up behind and you know they’re going to take a risky move. So you kind of jump out of the way a little bit more, you’re more attentive to that, because you know you’re going to get a big points haul, because they (the No. 6 Porsche of Torque Freak Racing) were out of the race.
So, yeah, you have to be conscious of that and not make any mistakes, because at that point, when you’re ruining it, then it’s points double zero for both teams. Then we have to take the fight to the next round, or they would have won essentially.
Aedan: I personally always try to keep an eye on Torque Freak, what they’re doing. Especially the last few races, as the points battle got really tight. As far as staying focused: Yeah, we’re just trying to do what we can (laughing).
V: We’ve seen some great racing and dramatic moments in the Sprint Cup races this year. Other than winning the Sprint Cup at Road America, is there any particular moment that you guys remember, that stood out to you?
Vincent: The one - what was it, Mid-Ohio? I can’t remember. Aedan was in the car for the beginning of the race and with the 15x incident limit, when I got in the car, we were at 14. So I had to run the whole race, or my whole stint and a half, without getting an incident point. And man, we had so many close calls with prototypes through the bends and twists there. I was like ‘Oh man!’ (laughing). It was really nerve wrecking. But if we didn’t do that, then we probably wouldn’t have won the championship either, being consistent that way.
Aedan: Yeah, that was a big drive there by Vince. Mid-Ohio, there was a lot of memorable moments. I had some great battles on track that was really fun. That ‘helped’ me get those 14 incident points, before Vince got in.
Vincent: Yeah (laughing). There was a lot of battling at the front there. I was just happy to watch it on my screen, you know (laughing).
Aedan: That was probably one of the most fun races I have ever been a part of.
V: I also seem to remember that Mid-Ohio was the first race where the incident limit was 15, so that probably was a huge change for several competitors.
Vincent: Yeah, there was moments in the race, where I was literally shaking, I was so close to hitting another car or going off track and it took a whole lap to get back into the zone, because it’s just so nerve wrecking. But it was great to pull it off, though.
V: Before we started this interview, Vincent, you also mentioned that Mosport was pretty special to you.
Vincent: Yeah, well I’m Canadian so Mosport is a Canadian track. And it’s one of the older racetracks in the world. So it was quite the honor to put it up near the front and keep it up there for the race. It was a lot of fun and I was really proud of that moment.
Especially battling with Torque Freak at the beginning. I knew if I let them by, they would have been gone, because I was off pace. So it was basically just ministry of defense there (laughing). I did everything I could to keep them behind us. It was great fun.
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| The No. 67 Kinetic Racing Porsche team's maiden victory came at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July, at the home track of Vincent L'Herbier. |
V: About the Sprint Cup finale at Road America: What did go through your mind when the championship leaders, the No. 6 Porsche of Torque Freak Racing got wrecked by their own team-mates on lap one? Were you guys actually aware of the incident?
Aedan: Vince was in the car. And I think it might have been the first lap. I was always watching what they were doing. So I saw it immediately, pretty much. I didn’t tell Vince right away. But I’m pretty sure that changed the way he was driving or our race strategy. But I was definitely super surprised to see that.
Vincent: When Aedan told me, I started getting really nervous, because I was like: ‘Man, this is our moment. Let’s not screw this up. It’s pretty much handed to us.’. It was the start of the race, so we have to get through the race.
There was a few laps after he told me, I was really shaky and nervous and all over the road, pretty much (laughing). But after a couple of laps, I got back in the zone. It was quite the shock to hear it, to be honest.
Aedan: And kudos to them, too. For sticking it out and they kept the car going for the whole race I’m pretty sure. So it was good to see that, too.
V: I’m just checking the race results. Yes, they kept going and finished three laps down in P18 in GT3, P31 overall. So you ended up winning the Sprint Cup by winning the race at Road America. Now you get the VSCA Sprint Cup trophy after the season finale at Road Atlanta in October. Do you have any idea yet where you’ll put the trophy?
Vincent: I’ll get it. It’s mine!
Aedan: Maybe we’ll cut it in half or something (laughing).
Vincent: Yeah, I’ll send a little chip to everybody. I think right now, it would be between me and Aedan, because we did the most of the sprint races. But, all in all, we’re trying to focus on the last race of the season and win the overall championship and then the Endurance Cup. And then everybody in the team will pretty much have a trophy, if that makes sense (laughing).
Aedan: Yeah, I agree that would be the perfect scenario. Everybody goes home with a trophy (laughing).
Vincent: (laughing) Hopefully! Knock on wood, right?
V: The VSCA SportsCar Championship season isn’t over yet, of course. We still got Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in October. You’re in first place in the SportsCar Championship standings and third in the Endurance Cup standings. How do you feel about your chances to take the overall championship and what would that mean to you?
Aedan: First of all, I think it’s great it’s coming down to the last race for two of the championships. I think it would be epic to get all three of them, and definitely hard work. I’m sure the other two teams are going to come out, looking to win.
Vincent: Yeah, I think our approach will be the same, really, as all the other races. It’s just about getting to the finish. Drive it clean, keep the car straight and just get there and see what happens in the end. I mean, it’s been working so far, why change anything for the last race? It would be kind of silly in my opinion. But yeah, we’re just going to go for it and see what happens.
V: Does that include not changing the drivers lineup? It’s a ten-hour race. Are you adding a third driver into the car?
Vincent: Yeah, I believe Nic (Nicholas Sceats) will be joining us.
V: Well, thank you guys, for taking the time for this interview. Best of luck for the Petit Le Mans and we’ll see you at Road Atlanta in October!
Aedan: Thanks a lot!
Vincent: Yeah, thanks for having us!
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