This day at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca was a milestone for Porsche and Penske.
The victory for Matthew Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 marked Porsche's 600th victory in IMSA competition, followed seconds later by AO Racing in the No. 77 911 GT3 R. He won GTD PRO, his 601st victory. With Seb Prior and Laurin Heinrich. The milestone victory, rather fittingly, took place at the same circuit where the sports car manufacturer celebrated its history a few months ago with the Rennsport Reunion 6. This came on the heels of Hertz's JOTA Porsche 963 winning the World Endurance Championship at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps the previous day, his first privateer hypercar victory.
For Roger Penske, who won Laguna Seca as a driver in the 1960s, this was the team's 100th World Sports Car victory. His 100 race victories include many with Porsche, including his mighty 917/30 in Can-Am competition and his most recent RS Spyder in the American Le Mans Series. .
“There's a lot of pressure from Porsche because they expect us to win,” Penske said after the Laguna Seca win. “I think the players did a good job. We've got a deep bench here. We've been through a lot the last few weeks, but, well, things are going well.”
Penske flew to Monterey directly from Belgium, where the team took pole position in the WEC race, to witness the victory.
“It's really great for Roger to be here and bring Team Penske its 100th win,” Jaminet declared. “Yesterday he was at Spa, so it took him 14 hours to get here. It's about Roger's commitment to this program and his team and all of us as drivers and the commitment he has to this program. It shows confidence. It's a little bit emotional for us, but I think we can be proud of what we did today.”
Porsche is already the winningest manufacturer in IMSA competitions, first winning the inaugural IMSA race at VIR with Harley Heywood and Peter Gregg in their Brumos Racing 914/6. This figure consists of wins with a combination of production cars and prototypes, including his 911 of all kinds, his 935 from the first GTP, his 962, and the RS Spyder.
AO Racing, Laurin Heinrich, Seb Priaulx and Lexi all have much to celebrate after Laguna, with their first wins as well as Porsche's 601st win in IMSA competition.Michael Levitt/Motorsports Images
A relatively young team, AO Racing recorded the brand's 601st victory with the GTD PRO victory for the 911 GT3 R. It was his fifth consecutive year that Porsche won in his GT class at WeatherTech's championship race. Tracking.
“We are really grateful to AO Racing for their faith in bringing a rookie and two young guys like us into the GTD PRO program where we will compete against many experienced teams and drivers,” said Heinrich. “I think today we were able to prove that not only Seb and I, but also AO Racing, have the ability to win in that category. Especially for me as a Porsche contract driver, I contributed to my 600th victory and achieved one of the greatest victories in Porsche history. It is an honor to be a part of this achievement.”
Both Porsche Penske Motorsports and AO Racing have a chance to increase Porsche's win total on the streets of Detroit over the next three weeks.
