Van Lennep began racing with the Porsche sportscar team in 1967, forming an association with the manufacturer that would shape his career through its most celebrated years. In 1970 he made his Le Mans debut, sharing a Porsche 917K with David Piper for the A.A.W. Racing Team, though the car did not finish.
In 1971 van Lennep shared the number 22 Martini Racing Porsche 917K with Helmut Marko to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright. The pair covered 5,335 km (3,315 mi), a distance record for the race that remained unbeaten until 2010. The achievement placed the 1971 Porsche 917K's performance in a category of its own within the history of endurance racing.
Also in 1971, the Stichting Autoraces Nederland (Foundation for Car Races in the Netherlands) hired a Surtees TS7 to give van Lennep his Formula One debut at his home Dutch Grand Prix, where he finished eighth in difficult wet conditions.
In 1972 van Lennep won the Rothmans European Formula 5000 Championship, driving a Surtees TS11 and a McLaren M18 for Speed International Racing. He made two appearances for the Frank Williams Racing Cars GP team, driving the Iso-Marlboro IR in 1973. At the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix he finished sixth to earn his first World Championship point. He drove again for Williams in 1974 without scoring. In 1975 he raced for HB Bewaking Team Ensign — the Dutch company HB Bewakingssystemen was sponsoring Ensign at the time, making van Lennep a logical choice to stand in for the sidelined Roelof Wunderink. At the 1975 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring he scored a second World Championship point with sixth place, making it his final Formula One start. He accumulated two points from eight World Championship starts, ranking him fifth among Dutch Formula One drivers in the historical record behind Max Verstappen, Jos Verstappen, Carel Godin de Beaufort, and Christijan Albers.
In 1973 van Lennep won the Targa Florio, the final running of that legendary Sicilian road race, sharing a Martini Porsche Carrera RSR with Herbert Müller. At Le Mans that same year he again partnered Müller for the Martini Racing Team in a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, finishing fourth overall. In 1974 the same pairing returned with a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo and finished second overall. In 1975 van Lennep shared a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR with John Fitzpatrick, Manfred Schurti, and Toine Hezemans for the Gelo Racing Team, finishing fifth overall and winning the GTS class.
In 1976 van Lennep was paired with Jacky Ickx in the Martini Racing Porsche 936, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for a second time. The win confirmed his status among the foremost endurance drivers of the era. He retired from racing following that result.
Van Lennep's 1971 Le Mans distance record stood for 39 years, an extraordinary testament to the pace of the Porsche 917K and the quality of his drive with Marko. His two Le Mans victories, Targa Florio win, European Formula 5000 championship, and intermittent Formula One career make him the most broadly accomplished Dutch racing driver of the 1970s.
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