Staged yearly since 1962 (in a shorter format the primary 4 years), the Rolex 24 At Daytona Worldwide Speedway is the newcomer amongst worldwide sports activities automobile racing’s “Triple Crown” of endurance races.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring has been contested since 1952, whereas the historical past of the 24 Hours of Le Mans spans greater than a century, again to 1923.
Solely 10 drivers have claimed total victory in all three races, and nobody has achieved the feat in the identical 12 months. The esteemed record contains Timo Bernhard, Mauro Baldi, A.J. Foyt, Hurley Haywood, Hans Herrmann, Al Holbert, Jackie Oliver, Andy Wallace and Marco Werner, and one new member this 12 months: Nick Tandy.
4 of these drivers (Herrmann, 1970; Haywood, 1973; Foyt, 1985; and Baldi, 1998) have been a part of the profitable group at Daytona and Sebring and had a shot of capturing the Triple Crown at Le Mans in the identical season. Herrmann got here closest of the above to the triple; his teammate Jo Siffert certified on pole for Le Mans ’68, however their Porsche 908 dropped out within the fifth hour.
Ken Miles received Daytona and Sebring for the manufacturing unit Ford group in 1966, however he by no means acquired to Le Mans; he was killed in an accident at Riverside Raceway whereas testing the Ford J-car prototype. Jacky Ickx received each Daytona and Sebring in 1972, however the Daytona race was not 24 hours that 12 months.
Ickx, Haywood and Foyt didn’t contest Le Mans within the 12 months they doubled-up at Daytona and Sebring, whereas Baldi’s try fell brief with a 14th place end at Circuit de la Sarthe in a Ferrari 333SP.
By co-driving the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 to total victory within the opening two races of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – the Rolex 24 and the Sebring 12 – Tandy joined the unique group of sports activities automobile Triple Crown winners.
Now he and fellow Porsche pilots Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor have the uncommon alternative to style triumph in all three crown jewel endurance races in the identical season.
At Le Mans, Tandy, his full-time WeatherTech Championship teammate Nasr, and Pascal Wehrlein will drive the No. 4, a 3rd Porsche entry awarded to the PPM group for its 2024 IMSA Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) championship (photograph proper, courtesy Porsche Newsroom).
Vanthoor, who’s the third driver with Nasr and Tandy in IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup occasions, co-drives the No. 6 Porsche full-time within the FIA World Endurance Championship with Kevin Estre and one other IMSA full-timer in Mathieu Jaminet. Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen, and Matt Campbell – Jaminet’s IMSA teammate – share Porsche’s third Le Mans challenger, the No. 5 automobile.
There are subsequently two potential profitable outcomes for the Triple Crown storyline – Tandy/Nasr or Vanthoor – and the truth that they are going to play out as an intra-team battle between two manufacturing unit Penske Porsche entries makes it all of the extra intriguing. Talking on the Chevrolet Detroit Sports activities Automobile Basic, the place they completed fourth, Tandy and Nasr declared themselves able to tackle the problem of Le Mans.
“That’s the final word purpose, and it will be unimaginable to have that addition to my CV – for Roger Penske and Porsche, as nicely,” Nasr mentioned. “We already began the 12 months very well, like a dream. It’s been incredible to get Daytona and Sebring back-to-back in the identical 12 months, so I’m already like, ‘Wow! That is distinctive and particular, what we’ve achieved to this point.’
“That’s already historical past within the making, and now Le Mans is a race I dreamed of profitable since I joined sports activities automobile racing,” he continued. “It’s an enormous purpose for Roger, Porsche, and the group to win that race. It’s all the time an enormous unknown, however I really feel very assured we’ve a really sturdy group of individuals and group.”
Tandy joined the exalted membership of sports activities automobile Triple Crown winners due to his total Le Mans victory in 2015, additionally achieved with the manufacturing unit Porsche group and co-drivers Earl Bamber and Nico Hulkenberg. Sweeping the ‘Large Three’ in the identical season would put him within the dialog about all-time sports activities automobile greats with the likes of Ickx, Brian Redman, and Tom Kristensen, amongst others.
“For those who’d requested me about profitable the Triple Crown earlier than, I’d have mentioned, ‘That’s by no means going to occur. It’s simply unbelievably more likely to occur,’” Tandy associated. “The issue is we’ve had an unbelievably unlikely season to this point. I’m extremely proud to get thus far the place we’re nonetheless speaking about it now, as a result of it means we’ve received Daytona and we received Sebring. That’s an unimaginable factor to say, by itself.
“So, you start to assume, ‘What is feasible?’” he added. “When luck is in your facet and issues are rolling your approach, you’ve acquired to roll with it. Why not take it on to France subsequent weekend?”
Excellent execution has been the hallmark of Porsche’s 2025 season within the WeatherTech Championship. Tandy and Nasr used superior driver change pace to put up a dash race win at Lengthy Seashore to their Daytona and Sebring endurance triumphs. They completed a robust second to the group automobile pushed by Jaminet and Campbell at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, then have been in place to win once more on the Chevrolet Detroit Sports activities Automobile Basic till Nasr was bumped out of the lead late within the contest.
In 2025 IMSA competitors, the Porsche 963 hasn’t been the quickest automobile over a single lap. Nevertheless it has demonstrated phenomenal race tempo, and when mixed with Porsche Penske Motorsport’s eager technique and mistake-free operation, Tandy and Nasr have compiled a close to good begin to their season.
“We will probably be there with a automobile able to profitable and a gaggle of individuals working the automobile which can be one of the best within the enterprise, and three drivers who know their approach across the race observe,” Tandy declared. “We’ve acquired each likelihood to do it. If the automobile works, and the tires and the observe situations swimsuit what we’ve acquired in our bundle, we’ll be able to win it.
“We’re not making an attempt to attain factors for the championship like the opposite two automobiles. All we are attempting to do is get Porsche again to Victory Lane at Le Mans. It’s the largest motorsport occasion on this planet, isn’t it? It’s just like the World Cup, the place one of the best on this planet get collectively for a one-off showdown.
“It might be large to me.”
