DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — One of the compelling storylines about Porsche Penske Motorsport’s third consecutive general victory within the 2026 Rolex 24 At Daytona was that it created the right begin for celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the formation of Crew Penske.
Considerably misplaced within the pleasure for Penske was the truth that 2026 can also be the milestone seventy fifth 12 months of competitors for Porsche Motorsport. The German marque’s illustrious racing historical past dates to 1951, when a 356 ‘Gmund’ coupe claimed the 1,100-cc class victory on the 24 Hours of Le Mans whereas ending twentieth general.
Porsche owns extra general Le Mans wins than another producer (19, together with seven consecutive between 1981-87) in addition to a document 21 general wins (and 25 powered by a Porsche engine) within the Rolex 24.
Throughout this 12 months’s Rolex 24, Porsche introduced collectively a various panel to mirror on the producer’s 75 years of sustained success on the race observe.
The individuals included IMSA Corridor of Famer Hurley Haywood, who notched 5 general wins at Daytona driving the 911 Carrera RSR, the 911-derived 935, and a 962 prototype. He additionally earned Le Mans triumphs in three iconic Porsche prototypes – 936, 956, and 962.
Haywood later shared a Porsche-powered Fabcar Daytona Prototype within the 2005 Rolex 24 with Timo Bernhard, then a Porsche Junior driver who would quickly be tabbed to hitch a collaboration between Porsche Motorsport and Crew Penske.
A Crew Penske Porsche RS Spyder produced three consecutive LMP2 class championships within the American Le Mans Collection between 2006-08. Bernhard and Romain Dumas clinched the LMP2 title in 2007 and ’08, and within the latter 12 months, additionally they guided the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Spyder to general victory on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
The RS Spyder toppled the theoretically sooner and extra highly effective LMP1 class entries for general race wins 11 instances between 2006-08, with Bernhard and Dumas incomes 9 of these trophies.
Jonathan Diuguid joined Crew Penske straight out of faculty in 2005 and was instantly assigned to the nascent RS Spyder mission, the place he designed elements and served as a ‘DAG’ (Knowledge Acquisition Geek) and assistant race engineer.
From 2010-17, Diuguid labored with Penske’s IndyCar program earlier than returning to sports activities automobiles within the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship when Penske joined pressured with Acura to subject prototypes in IMSA’s prime class. With Diuguid main the engineering effort, the Penske Acura ARX-05s claimed the Daytona Prototype worldwide (DPi) class title in 2019 and ’20.
When Penske introduced a collaboration with Porsche for IMSA’s new Grand Touring Prototype class beginning in 2023, Diuguid was named this system’s Managing Director. Porsche Penske Motorsport has locked up the final two GTP class championships with the Porsche 963, and so they began the 2026 season with Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer, and Laurin Heinrich taking the general laurels on the Rolex 24.
Haywood’s first expertise with a Porsche prototype got here in 1973, driving the legendary 917-10 within the SCCA Can-Am championship.
“With 1,200 horsepower and lots of aerodynamics, it was fairly difficult and fairly a handful to drive,” Haywood recalled. “That was an incredible bounce ahead from a 300-horsepower 911, however Mark Donohue gave me some good recommendation and stated, ‘You’ve acquired to be actually cautious with this automobile. Take small steps, after which ultimately, you’ll catch up.’ That’s precisely what I did, and I used to be third within the championship behind Donohue and George Follmer.
“I believe when Porsche checked out that, they thought, ‘If he can deal with that automobile with actually no expertise in a prototype, possibly we must always have a look at him to come back on for Le Mans (in 1977),’” Haywood continued. “The primary 12 months I used to be paired with Jurgen Barth, then Jacky Ickx had some issues together with his automobile, so that they moved Jacky over to our automobile. Jacky was good at evening within the rain – which I’ll inform you is fairly daunting at Le Mans – and we received the race. That form of opened the door for Porsche and me.”
Bernhard had a strong document racing GT-class Porsche 911s, together with a number of victories on the Nurburgring 24 Hours and the ALMS GT class championship, when he acquired the nod from Porsche to make his first prototype begin within the 2005 Rolex 24.
“We had 5 drivers on that automobile!” he laughed. “I used to be with Hurley, JC France, Romain Dumas, and Mike Rockenfeller. The automobile didn’t deal with that properly and we didn’t end the race. Then I bear in mind I acquired a name from Roland Kussmaul in August 2005 who stated, ‘We’ve acquired a ravishing RS Spyder at Weissach (the Porsche Motorsport headquarters and take a look at observe exterior Stuttgart), and we’d like a driver for some gearbox testing. How briskly are you able to be there?’ I stated, ‘Two hours, but when the automobile is ready, I could make it in 90 minutes!’
“I went hammering all the way down to Weissach, and I acquired my first expertise within the RS Spyder. I fell in love with this nimble little LMP2 automobile with plenty of downforce. That’s when the RS Spyder program kicked off, and that’s when Penske Racing got here into my life. Later that 12 months, I met Roger Penske for the primary time in individual, together with Tim Cindric, and Jonathan, who was an engineer on this program. We received three straight LMP2 championships and we received the 12 Hours of Sebring general. That’s actually the place my Porsche profession kicked off.”
Diuguid, then in his early 20s, has fond recollections of the RS Spyder program and the beginning of his profitable affiliation with Crew Penske.
“My first expertise with a Porsche prototype was the primary observe take a look at run exterior of Weissach,” he stated. “It was at Jerez, and it was very popular. We have been very profitable with the RS Spyder, and that has transitioned into the Porsche 963. It’s come full circle, actually, in 20 years. It’s thrilling to develop and work with a producer like Porsche; racing is of their tradition and their DNA and their blood, and it’s superb to achieve success with them over nearly 20 years.”
