It was a day of milestones for Porsche and Penske at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The victory for Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 was the 600th victory in IMSA competition for Porsche, and was followed seconds later by the 601st as AO Racing won GTD PRO in the No. 77 911 GT3 R with Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich. The milestone victories occurred, rather fittingly, at the track where the sports car manufacturer held its celebration of its history, Rennsport Reunion 6, a few months ago. It came on the heels of a World Endurance Championship win for the Hertz JOTA Porsche 963, the first privateer Hypercar victory, at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps the day before.
For Roger Penske, who won as a driver at Laguna Seca in the ’60s, it was the 100th global sports car victory as a team. Within those 100 race wins are many with Porsche, including the mighty 917/30s in Can-Am competition and the more recent RS Spyder in the American Le Mans Series.
“A lot of pressure coming from Porsche, because they expect us to win,” said Penske after the Laguna Seca victory. “I think the guys have done a good job; we’ve got a deep bench here. We’ve been through a lot of stuff this past couple of weeks, but hey, we’re on a roll.”
Penske had flown directly from Belgium, where his team scored the pole for the WEC race, to Monterey to witness the victory.
“It’s pretty awesome to bring the 100th win of the Penske team, with Roger here,” declared Jaminet. “It was 14 hours of traveling to get to here because he was at Spa yesterday. It shows the commitment of Roger for this program and his team and for all of us, the drivers, and the trust he puts in this. It’s bit emotional for us and I think we can be proud of what we have done today.”
Porsche was already the winningest manufacturer in IMSA competition, the first one coming with a victory in the first IMSA race held at VIR with Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg in a Brumos Racing 914/6. The number is comprised of victories by a mix of production cars and prototypes, including all manner of 911s, the 935s, 962s in the first generation of GTP, and the RS Spyder.
AO Racing, a relatively young team in the grand scheme of things, scored the marque’s 601st win with a GTD PRO victory in its 911 GT3 R. It was the fifth straight year that Porsche has won a GT class in a WeatherTech Championship race at the track.
“I’m really thankful for AO Racing for the trust to bring a rookie and two young guys like us into a GTD PRO program against many experienced teams and drivers,” said Heinrich. “I think today we proved that Seb and me, but also AO Racing, are capable of winning in that category. Especially for me, being a Porsche-contracted driver, it’s a big honor to be part of the 600th win and to be part of that great achievement in Porsche history.”
Both Porsche Penske Motorsports and AO Racing will have the opportunity to add to Porsche’s win tally on the streets of Detroit in three weeks.
