Between 1972 and 1974 Penske served as Porsche's official partner in the Can-Am Series. In late 1971, Penske collaborated with Mark Donohue on the development of a turbocharged variant of the Porsche 917. George Follmer won the series championship in 1972 driving the Porsche 917. Donohue then achieved a dominant performance in 1973 with the advanced Porsche 917/30. Regulatory changes in 1974 limited Penske's participation to a single race that season.
In April 2005 it was announced that Porsche would build an Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO)-sanctioned LMP2 Class prototype to be entered by Penske Racing in the American Le Mans Series, competing formally as DHL Porsche Penske Racing. The Porsche RS Spyder made its debut at the ALMS season final at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "Porsche Junioren" factory drivers Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr finished first in LMP2 class and fifth overall in the four-hour race. The team livery was inspired by the Jordan EJ12's DHL Formula 1 livery.
In 2006 Penske Motorsports fielded two LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder cars in the ALMS, skipping the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The cars combined for seven class victories and the overall win at Mid-Ohio; Penske won the LMP2 team championship. Maassen and Luhr tied for first in the drivers' championship; Timo Bernhard finished fifth, Romain Dumas sixth, and Emmanuel Collard tenth.
In 2007 Penske ran two Porsche RS Spyder Evo cars, again skipping Le Mans. The combination produced eleven class victories and eight overall victories across the twelve-race season. Penske won the LMP2 team championship for a second consecutive year. Dumas and Bernhard tied for first in the LMP2 drivers' championship; Maassen and Ryan Briscoe tied for third.
The 2008 season opened with an overall win at the 12 Hours of Sebring — Porsche's first overall win in that race since 1988 with the Porsche 962. On 4 December 2008 Roger Penske announced the closure of the ALMS operation; the team moved to the rival Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series for 2009, running a Porsche-powered Riley with Bernhard and Dumas, before that programme was also closed at the end of 2009.
In May 2021 Porsche announced its return to the FIA World Endurance Championship under the new LMDh regulations, with Penske running the factory entry. The team announced participation in both the WEC and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the 2023 season using two Porsche 963 cars in each series. To prepare for the WEC return, Penske competed in the 2022 WEC season with a single Oreca 07-Gibson in LMP2 class. Mobil 1, a former Penske lubricant partner, rejoined as official lubricant supplier from 2023 onward in connection with the Porsche partnership.
At the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, Penske was the only team running the Porsche 963; the No. 6 car retired with a gearbox issue and the No. 7 finished seventh. During WEC events the operation involves more than 80 mechanics, engineers, drivers, and support personnel.
The 2023 WEC lineup comprised:
No. 5 Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen, Frédéric Makowiecki
No. 6 Porsche 963: Kévin Estre, André Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor
The 2023 IMSA lineup comprised:
No. 6 Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy (full season), Dane Cameron and Laurens Vanthoor
No. 7 Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr (full season), Michael Christensen and Josef Newgarden
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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