Diuguid: Porsche Penske Focused on Race, Tire Strategy

Photo: Porsche

Porsche Penske Motorsport has been focused on race pace and “making the tires last” according to its managing director Jonathan Diuguid, who believes each of the four GTP manufacturers are “quite close” in terms of performance.

While Cadillac topped the time charts in all four practice sessions, and has qualified on pole for this weekend’s Rolex 24, Diuguid insisted that Porsche Penske hasn’t been focused on single-lap pace in the build-up to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

“I think [Cadillac] is doing a good job but we’ve had our program,” Diuguid told Sportscar365.

“The race is going to be warm. In the heat of the day, when people are having to double stint some tires, I think it’s going to be tough on everybody to make the tires last.

“That’s what we’ve been focusing on, just trying to figure out our tire strategies on when we’re going to use [new] tires and when we’re not. But I think we’re in an OK place.”

Diuguid said a focus of last weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24, as well as the practice sessions has been on saving tire compounds they believe they’ll need for the race.

GTP teams are permitted to use 33 sets of tires across the entire event, including up to 21 for qualifying and the race, which will allow the usage of Michelin’s soft tire compound between the hours of 7 p.m. on Saturday through 8 a.m. on Sunday.

There are no restrictions for Michelin’s medium compound throughout the race, meanwhile.

The restrictions, which have been modified from last year, will still require teams to double stint at portions of the race.

The Porsche 963s, as well as the Acura ARX-06, also have to contend with added weight to their prototypes when compared to the 2023 Rolex 24, with the Multimatic-chassised LMDh car weighing in 20 kg heavier.

“The weight is definitely noticeable on the cars,” Diuguid said. “It’s not insignificant, it’s 20 kg.

“The drivers notice it. We definitely notice it in the heat of the day like the past two [daytime] sessions we had where we’re really leaning on the tires.

“Especially when the track temp gets up, the medium compound we have here is the higher side and sometimes out of the temperature window it’s supposed to be running.

“If you look at the extra weight we’re carrying and the extra power, we’re going to be harder on our tires than some of our other competitors.”

Despite the challenges, Diuguid remains upbeat about their chances for the race.

“In general, performance-wise, I think everybody is quite close,” he said. “It’s going to be about execution, no mistakes and keeping the car on track and being able to fight for the last six hours.

“If you look at our spares level preparation… we’ve run through spare gearboxes, corners, brake and batteries and everything like that, we’re definitely in a lot better spot [than to last year].

“From the technical side of the car, we haven’t had any race-stopping failures over the last two weeks of running here, so I think we can take confidence in that because it definitely wasn’t the case last year.

“We’ve done a lot of homework and have put in a lot of effort. Our drivers have done a great job throughout practice.

“We’ll see where it shakes out. I think it’s going to be a good fight between all of the GTP manufacturers.

“That’s what’s great about IMSA. The racing is close and the cars run together all the time.”

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