Penske started 2025 by winning Daytona and Sebring...

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Is 2025 Roger Penske’s yr? Based mostly on his sports activities automotive group’s efficiency on the opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, and right here on the second race of the IMSA season, March’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, it positive appears like it.

Penske, known as “The Captain” by his motorsports contemporaries, has every little thing cash should buy (Forbes pegs his price at $5.6 billion), and Crew Penske has succeeded in profitable most each necessary race or championship he’s ever gone after.

However there’s one line on Penske’s resumé that is still clean. Since he’s 88, you must suppose it must be crammed in fairly quickly. And that’s a win on the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“When you concentrate on our group–we’re approaching 600 wins–profitable Le Mans could be like 500 of ’em,” Penske instructed us in a 2022 interview.

Successful Le Mans isn’t a given for anyone, however this appears like his best alternative ever. In any case, Crew Penske’s Porsche 963 GTP automotive took first and third on the Rolex 24 At Daytona, and on the Twelve Hours of Sebring, his Porsche 963s got here in first and second.

Although Sebring is just half so long as the Daytona and Le Mans occasions, Sebring’s 3.71-mile monitor is so punishing that the Twelve Hours is taken into account probably the most correct check for any endurance race. If one thing doesn’t fall off, burn down or seize up at Sebring, you’re possible going to be superb for June’s Le Mans on the 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

In fact, there are different points that have to be prevented for a win at Le Mans, reminiscent of crashing or just not going quick sufficient–and to this point, Penske appears to have even that lined.

Kévin Estre, driver of the second-place No. 6 Penske Porsche at Sebring, stated this instantly after the race: “An ideal day for the group. 1-2. Very sturdy operation. No errors within the pits. No penalties. No contact. This reveals that we have been all doing an excellent job.”

“I’ll discuss in regards to the roll we’re on,” stated Nick Tandy, driver of the No. 7 Porsche 963, which received Sebring and Daytona. “You hardly ever see a sports activities group or an operation that does a single occasion with none faults or errors. We’ve simply been celebrating with most likely 40 those who have flawlessly run a automotive for 36 hours, clearly Daytona and Sebring mixed. It’s a testomony to what Porsche and Porsche Penske have put collectively as a gaggle of individuals that permits us to go racing and have this success with out a mistake.” It feels like Crew Penske has checked just about each field it can.

The Sebring win was achieved by Britain’s Tandy, Brazilian Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium, the identical trio that received Daytona. In second place, 2.239 seconds again, was Penske Porsche No. 6 pushed by Matt Campbell from Australia and Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Estre. That group completed third at Daytona, bracketing the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura.

Two different large winners from Sebring: Rexy, maybe the world’s hottest Porsche 911, and Winward Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3.

So, is Penske prepared for the 93rd operating of the 24 Hours of Le Mans? “I believe the automotive and the group and the drivers, everyone concerned within the mission, has proven to this point what we’re able to,” profitable driver Vanthoor stated. “It’s the final word stage, Le Mans. It’s the final word showdown. Yeah, I believe it’s fairly obvious that we now have every little thing in place to be profitable.”

However previously two years, for the reason that introduction of this 963 mannequin, “we haven’t succeeded,” he stated of the group’s Le Mans showings. “It’s clearly very clearly the objective of Porsche, of Roger Penske, the entire group, of us,” stated Vanthoor.

The Ferrari 499P received Le Mans in 2023 and 2024. Ending second each years was the Toyota GR010. These two automobiles race repeatedly within the FIA World Endurance Championship abroad, however not right here in IMSA, so the 2 American Penske Porsches haven’t actually benchmarked towards their hardest competitors for Le Mans.

However Penske additionally has a two-car WEC Porsche group, and Porsche completed the 2024 producers’ championship second to Toyota, however solely two factors again. Toyotas received 4 WEC races final yr, Penske Porsches received three, and Ferraris received just one, however it was the one which counted–Le Mans. Not one of the different six producers in that WEC class received at all.

“Yeah,” stated the low-key Vanthoor, “let’s see if this yr is the yr. We’re undoubtedly attempting. However we’re not the one ones.”

This Sebring was particularly irritating for defending champion Wayne Taylor Racing, which fields two Cadillacs, Nos. 10 and 40, within the prime GTP class. The 40 automotive, which received final yr when Taylor was racing Acuras, retired earlier than the top of the race, whereas the No. 10 completed, albeit in seventh. Crew proprietor Taylor blamed IMSA officiating for the No. 10’s poor end this yr. His son, Ricky, was driving throughout the first hour of the occasion when IMSA penalized the group for punting a slower Ferrari into the wall.

However Wayne Taylor insists there was no contact, taking to IMSA Radio for a prolonged harangue, insisting that he’d seen video that exonerated his son. “We regarded on the footage. He by no means touched the automotive. Ricky stated he by no means touched the automotive. And the race director’s response was that he made a ‘dangerous name.’” The group served the penalty, a stop-and-park within the pits for 60 seconds, however was by no means capable of regain its earlier momentum.

In all, the 2025 Twelve Hours was an unusually easy race, with prolonged durations of green-flag racing. The winners in all 4 lessons have been decisively forward when the checkered flag flew, with just one late-race go, and that was within the GTD class. With 14 minutes left, Philip Ellis, driving the defending champion Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, eased contained in the main Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 pushed by Jack Hawksworth. Ellis then shoved Hawksworth out of the best way in a distinctively NASCAR-esque transfer and went on to win.

After the race, Ellis defended the go. “Clearly there was some rubbing right here and there. That’s a part of good racing. Nothing was over the restrict. Simply used no matter I had to make use of,” he stated, then went on to counsel that Hawksworth deserved it. “I perceive that he’s not tremendous pleased with it. To be trustworthy, I simply gave him again what he gave me a pair laps earlier than in Flip 7. Hey, everyone knows Jack. I’ve a number of respect for him. He’s an amazing man. However that’s how he races. You reap what you sow.”

As you may guess, Hawksworth disagreed. “I don’t thoughts hip and shoulder, however he bumped into the again of me and moved me out of the best way,” he instructed Sportscar365. “So, look, he’s bought one coming. That’s racing. Clearly, I’m disillusioned.” Ending third in GTD behind the Mercedes and the Lexus was the Coronary heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

Circle June 14-15 in purple in your calendar for Le Mans. You may wager Roger Penske already has.

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I did not have a lot hope for the idea when the hypercar class first began getting press in 2018. It has turned out to be means cooler than I ever anticipated.