Team Penske and Porsche Clinch GTP Championship

October 15, 2024

On Saturday night at Road Atlanta, an hour north of Georgia’s capitol city, the No. 7 Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske Motorsport finished third place in the Petit Le Mans, leading the team and its drivers Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr to be crowned the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Champions in the GTP driver and team class, securing the 45th championship for the organization started by Roger Penske over 58 years ago.  

Sports car racing is the foundation on which the current Team Penske teams in INDYCAR, NASCAR, IMSA and WEC are built upon. Roger Penske himself was a renowned sports car racer who was named Sports Illustrated’s “Driver of the Year” in 1961 for his ability behind the wheel.  

With over 600 wins, nearly 700 pole positions, 20 Indianapolis 500 wins and three Daytona 500 crowns, Team Penske began humbly in a two-bay garage in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania in 1966. That year, team owner Roger Penske took drivers Dick Guldstrand, George Wintersteen and Ben Moore to the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the team’s first race and came home with its first win in the GT Class. The team also won the next race on the schedule, another class win in the 12 Hours of Sebring.  

This successful beginning was a premonition of things to come. Just one year later, Mark Donohue scored the team’s first championship in the United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC). He and/or George Follmer would win titles in either USRRC, Trans-Am or CanAm in each season between 1967-1973, except for 1970. In 1968, Donohue won both the USRRC and the Trans-Am title. 

In particular, the 1972-1974 run in CanAm was highlighted by Team Penske’s use of the powerful Porsche 917 platform. After taking the 917 to back-to-back wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970-1971, Porsche decided to up its game in American endurance racing. The 917/10 had been used in CanAm since 1970, including Follmer’s 1972 championship. In 1973, however, Porsche unveiled the brutal 917/30 that has gone down in the motorsports annals as perhaps the most powerful racing machine ever built. Thanks to input from the Brown-educated Donohue, the 917/30 produced north of 1,000 horsepower from its V12 turbocharged engine, with a sleek aerodynamic design that stuck the car to the track. Over the course of that year, Donohue demoralized the competition over the eight-race schedule with seven wins and eight pole positions. New regulations for the 1974 season severely limited the 917/30, but Brian Redman still drove it to one victory the year before the project was shelved. 

Following a long hiatus from sports car competition, Team Penske and Porsche embarked on a very successful run with the iconic Porsche RS Spyder in the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series from 2005-2008. In one of the most remarkable runs in the history of American sports car racing, the Porsche RS Spyder not only scored 14 class victories, but they bested the LMP1 entries on 11 occasions to take the overall victory, including the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring on the 20th anniversary of Porsche’s last overall win in the iconic endurance event. The Porsche RS Spyder program won the LMP2 class Team, Driver and Manufacturers Championships from 2006-2008. 

After winning the 2019 and 2020 IMSA championships in the former DPi class – the predecessor to the GTP category – with drivers Dane Cameron, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Alexander Rossi with a new manufacturer, the sports car program again went dormant until the 2022 announcement of the new program with the Porsche 963, a program that would again see Penske and Porsche reunited to continue building upon their legacy of success. 

Since its inception in 2023, Porsche Penske Motorsports operates across two series spanning the globe. Not only does the team participate in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but for the first time in team history, there’s a full-time program in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The Series' marquee event offers Penske and Porsche another opportunity to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

In addition to Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy and Kévin Estre competing in the No. 6 this past Saturday in the IMSA finale at Road Atlanta, the No. 7 Porsche 963 featured drivers Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell joining as the team’s endurance driver. 

Following Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron's victories at the Daytona 24 and Watkins Glen, the duo had an outstanding season, and in a thrilling race this past weekend on the high-speed circuit at Road Atlanta, the No. 7 finished third place, earning enough points to be crowned the 2024 IMSA GTP champion. 

Dane Cameron’s thoughts: “Heading into a new season, you always have big goals and wild dreams – winning the major event in Daytona, taking the drivers’ title as well as the manufacturers’ and teams’ championship. Add to that the crown in the Michelin Endurance Cup and securing the first two places as a team... We’ve now fulfilled all these dreams. This is almost extraordinary. I’m proud of everyone who worked so hard for our success.” 
 
Felipe Nasr’s thoughts: “What a day! So much happened in the race, but none of that matters now: we’ve achieved our dreams! I was involved in the Porsche 963 project from day one. It makes me incredibly proud that all the hard work is paying off like this. My first title as a Porsche works driver is hugely important to me: that was my big goal when I signed on with this great manufacturer. I wanted to reach the top with Porsche and Porsche Penske Motorsport – and I’ve done it! Thank you to everyone who worked with so much passion on this.”