Porsche Penske Hoping to Make “Best Use” of Three-Car Program

Photo: MPS Agency

Porsche Penske Motorsport will have multiple benefits to running a third Hypercar in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans according to Porsche’s LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle, who said it gives them an increased strategic approach.

The factory squad has entered its two full season FIA World Endurance Championship entries in addition to the No. 75 Porsche 963, which is crewed by members of its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship operation.

Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr are piloting the extra car, alongside the WEC entries driven by Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen, Fred Makowiecki (No. 5) and Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer (No. 6).

“Having three cars we can spread out the program wider,” Kuratle told Sportscar365. “We will try to make the best use out of it.

“Where it helps is that it extends the chances for a good result; that’s the reason why you have three cars.

“In terms of strategy, I’m not sure there’s more than two ways of doing it. We have a rough idea of how to do it for the race but it’s not done in a very big detail.

“Most likely two of the cars will have the same and one is trying something else.

“But then, as we all know, a 24-hour race, after the first hour, the strategy is [adjusted] to the situation you find yourself in.”

Kuratle said this year’s race, which sees a revised safety car procedure, could present challenges in terms of strategy.

“We’re looking at options this way but again, it’s something you do as you go [through] the race,” he explained. “You have a rough idea how to start, a rough idea how you want to do it. After the race start, you have to react.

“There’s slightly different safety car rules here, which I think is a very good idea. We would be very lucky to be in the position to make it to choose which car to be in which position.

“In general, it helps all over to have three cars. At the end of the day, we take the best one with track position and [is] the one you send for the [win].”

All-New No. 75 Porsche Was Built Up in Mooresville

Kuratle revealed that the No. 75 car is not one of the team’s WeatherTech Championship chassis but instead a brand-new car that was built up at Team Penske’s shop in Mooresville, N.C. last month, then flown to France.

“It may sound a little bit crazy,” he said. “The reason is that with parts shortages, looking at the IMSA race calendar, we could build it up with spare parts from the IMSA [team], which was way easier from a parts situation.

“It’s actually even cheaper if you look at the costs. If you would have brought over a crew [to Weissach] to build it up and they’d have to stay somewhere, it’s even economically better to do it over there.

“But the position was driven by the availability of parts.

“We had a two-day test at Watkins Glen and we were able to bring it there, do the shakedown and fly it over here.

Kuratle said the car will remain in Europe following Le Mans and will be used as a spare tub for the rest of the WEC season.

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