A late race stint from Campbell was key to pushing the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry - shared with Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre - into podium contention after the team had run inside the top five for much of the race.
A flat out, intense affair had turned into a pitched battle between Campbell's Porsche and the three factory Ferraris as other challengers faded.
Though the car slightly struggled for raw pace during the nighttime running, it came alive as the sun rose over La Sarthe on Sunday as the trio moved forward to challenge the Ferrari trio as the race evolved.
Campbell was in the car for the penultimate stint and when he handed the car over to Estre for the final 90 minutes of the race they sat in second position, but under pressure from the Ferraris.
Estre then steadied the car in second and ensured they followed the winning Ferrari home by less than twenty seconds. The result was made even sweeter by the fact they had started 21st and last of the Hypercar runners after being excluded from qualifying earlier in the week.
“Tomorrow we will look at the result and think that we have achieved more than we could have expected after the practice sessions and qualifying," Laurens Vanthoor said.
"Today, however, the disappointment prevails. We delivered an absolutely perfect race and virtually had one hand on the biggest trophy – you don't often come that close to such a triumph. What a pity!”
The winners completed 387 laps, or more than 5,100 kilometres of the iconic Le Mans circuit, while Porsche received the Sustainability award from event promoter ACO, for their mission to donate 500 Euro per lap completed during the race - the Porsche trio completing 1,159 laps in total.
In a productive day for Porsche, all three Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s finished inside the top-10 outright, while Manthey Racing also backed up their 2024 win in the LM GT3 category with their Porsche 911 GT3R.
It's the third time Campbell has stood on the Le Mans podium, having already been part of the 2018 LM GTE Am class winning combination on his debut at the circuit in 2018. He also went on to finish second in the same class two years later. It was, however, his best finish in the outright class - backing up sixth position last year.
It's the third time Campbell has stood on the Le Mans podium.
Campbell joins an elite group of just seven Australian drivers to have finished on the outright podium at Le Mans, and one of even fewer to do so in a Porsche.
Ryan Briscoe finished second outright in 2022 and was the last Aussie to score an outright podium Mark Webber was the last to do so in a Porsche, finishing runner-up in 2014.
Vern Schuppan, one of just three Australians to win the race outright, did so in a Porsche 956.
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