Penske and Porsche: a success story which is set to continue
Penske and Porsche will write a new motorsport chapter together from 2023 onwards as they combine to form a new LMDh powerhouse.
This will essentially be part three of an already epic journey and one which has seen consummate success across the world from the USA to Europe and back again. Read more about the recent Penske Porsche news HERE.
It all started back in 1971 when Roger Penske was looking for new challenges in the world of sportscar racing. He had already tasted success with a Lola T70 MkIIIB at the 1969 Daytona 24 Hours in a race which saw Penske’s protégé Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons triumph in the first major sportscar classic win for a car sporting the Sunoco Oil company name.
A period of re-engineering the Ferrari 512M followed and was the only true consistent challenger to the Porsche 917s and took pole and the runners-up position at the 1971 Daytona 24 Hours.
This caught the eye of Porsche and for 1972 Penske became the official Can-Am development partner of the German marque.
Already by late ’71 Donohue was helping to develop the turbocharged 917-10 for the Can-Am but suffered a huge accident in testing at Road Atlanta and was badly injured.
Penske fought back though with George Follmer taking the title, while a recovered Donohue doubled-up on the success with his own Can-Am crown the following year in the monstrously powered Porsche 917/30KL.
This had an outrageous amount of power from the 5.4-litre flat 12 powerplant and Donohue was one of only a few that could tame the incredible 1500bhp which could be supplied via the then revolutionary cockpit adjusted boost knob.
One of the most remarkable moments in the initial Penske Porsche partnership came at Talledega in 1975 just weeks before Donohue’s tragic death at the Austrian Grand Prix. In an attempt on the world closed-course speed record he managed a sensational feat in a 917-30.
Setting an average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28 km) high-banked oval, Donohue achieved 221.120 mph (355.858 km/h) to smash the previous record and set a standard that would last for over a decade.
The second phase of the Penske Porsche history began in 2005 when it was announced that the Stuttgart marque would build an LMP675 car for use in the American Le Mans Series.
Two cars would be run by the DHL Porsche Penske Racing team with works drivers and engineers carried over from the Indycar programme. One of these was Nigel Beresford who became an integral part of the success over the final years of the first decade of the 21st century.
“Working with Porsche was fantastic and we were got a strong technical and trust bond formed very quickly,” he tells FIAWEC.com about the Porsche RS Spyder programme. “The level of detail that we used for that project was second to none and that showed in the results we were able to achieve for several seasons. I look back on it extremely fondly to this day.”
The project was successful from the start as Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr triumphed on their debut at Laguna Seca at the final race of 2005.
The following season, the team took the ALMS LMP675 crown by clinching seven class wins and an overall success at Mid-Ohio resulting in Maassen and Luhr sweeping to the drivers’ championship.
More domination came in 2007 with 11 class victories and eight overall wins. Penske won the LMP2 team championship, and drivers Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard finished tied for first in the LMP2 driver's championship.
In 2008 the Sebring 12 Hours fell to the Penske Porsche alliance as Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Emmanuel Collard combined to beat the Audi R10’s to a famous victory.
By 2008 privateer Porsche RS Spyder’s were also tasting success as the Van Merksteijn Motorsport team won at Barcelona, Spa, Nürburgring and Silverstone to take the Le Mans Series LMP2 crown at a canter.
But the Dutch teams biggest success was saved for Le Mans where Jos Verstappen, Peter van Merksteijn and Jeroen Bleekemolen dominated the LMP2 category to ensure that the Porsche Spyder added the biggest sportscar race in the world to its roster of success.
The Danish Team Essex squad of John Nielsen, Casper Elgaard and Kristian Poulsen made it two wins in two years at La Sarthe in 2009 to sign off a stellar era.
Now, the third act for the Penske Porsche awaits in 2023!
