Diuguid Unsure Where Porsche Will Stack Up After Leading Roar

Photo: Juergen Tap/Porsche

Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid admitted he’s unsure where Porsche Penske Motorsport will stack up to the competition in this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona despite topping the time charts at the Roar Before the 24.

Two-time and defending overall Rolex 24 winner Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor set the first and third quickest times from the three-day test at Daytona International Speedways that saw the Porsche 963 lock out the the top three positions when factoring in the 2025-spec GTP entry from privateer squad JDC-Miller Motorsports that was second quickest in the hands of Nico Pino.

While the next-closest competitor was the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Filipe Albuquerque, some four-tenths slower, Diuguid dismissed the notion the team holds any kind of pace advantage heading into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

“I know we had a good, successful three days of running, from a technical standpoint, from feedback from the drivers and from the performance of the cars, whether that’s being able to double stint tires or how the handling was or running in traffic,” Diuguid told reporters on Monday.

“It feels like we’re in a very good spot. Relative to the other manufacturers and our competitors, I honestly don’t know.

“I think, in general, the lap times were slower than the November test and slower than the race last year, for whatever reason.

“But I think the main thing is that for everything that Porsche Penske Motorsport can control, we checked all the boxes in our preparation for the race.

“We’ve had some driver lineup changes this year, maybe not so much the crew pairings with the 6 [car] being all together, but specifically with the 7 [car].

“Laurin Heinrich has raised every expectations that’s been put on him and he’s working really well with Julien [Andlauer] and Felipe. That group is going to be extremely strong and hit the ground running.

“We have a few more driver change practices and things like that, that we need to go through in the next couple of days that weren’t where they need to be.

“But from a performance aspect, from a reliability aspect, the whole group is operating extremely well.”

Diuguid, who said the only hiccup from the factory Porsche squad over the weekend came when Kevin Estre had a minor brush with the Turn 1 wall, praised their performance on Michelin’s new-for-2026 Pilot Sport Endurance line of tires, particularly the Soft compound.

GTP teams were permitted to use both the Soft and Medium compounds throughout the Roar, although the Soft will be restricted for only Thursday night practice and a yet-to-be-determined, temperature-dependent time period during the race.

“It was quite cold on Friday and warmed up pretty considerably on Saturday,” said Diuguid.

“In the past the 963 struggled to manage the Soft tire. We were a little bit harder on the tires than our competitors.

“I think that’s one of the areas we’ve improved considerably.

“The Soft tire was the tire of choice of most everybody during the Roar, for the temperature conditions and also what we think the race conditions are going to be, [which is] mainly Medium-focused.

“Both cars were able to double stint Soft tires, which is something that was unheard of for us in 2024 and 2025.

“I think the consistency there and how we’re using the tires has drastically improved, not so much for ultimate performance but just for longevity and degradation and things like that.”

Execution Key to Team’s Quest for Rolex 24 Three-Peat

Diuguid stressed that execution and not necessarily outright pace will be key to victory this weekend, as the team seeks its third consecutive Rolex 24 win.

Wayne Taylor Racing was the last team to achieve such a feat in the Florida endurance classic, when it won three straight years from 2019-21, although it split up between two different manufacturers in Cadillac and Acura.

“When the race starts, it’s all about execution,” said Diuguid.

“As much as I would think I would like to, I can’t drive the cars and I can’t do the pit stops and I can’t control what the other competitors do.

“We’re relying on everybody to execute in an extremely high level. The six gentlemen we have in the driver lineup are at the pinnacle of our sport as far as performance.

“I can say the same thing behind the men and women the pit wall too.

“We’re just counting on execution and I think the team and Porsche have shown that we’ve been able to execute extremely well for the past two years.

“I hope to be able to do it again on Sunday.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John