Porsche “Working Through With Suppliers” to Sort Daytona Issues

Porsche Penske Motorsport is “working through with the suppliers” of spec LMDh parts used by all manufacturers to address some of the issues its cars faced in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, ahead of its FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar debut at Sebring.

Managing director Jonathan Diuguid told reporters on Thursday that the Penske factory squad was left “a bit disappointed” with how both of its Porsche 963s encountered setbacks in last month’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opener.

The No. 6 machine had a problem with its Xtrac gearbox, while the No. 7 underwent a change of its Williams battery – both spec parts — and also faced a broken water pipe.

Porsche is now preparing for its first race in the WEC’s Hypercar class, the 1000 Miles of Sebring, which is on the same weekend as round two of the WeatherTech Championship.

Diuguid indicated that the Penske works team is liaising with the spec parts suppliers as part of its work to ensure improved reliability at the Sebring double-series event.

“I think every LMDh manufacturer was affected by issues throughout the race,” he said.

“Ours were definitely visible. I think spec components are a positive cost-control measure. You can develop them across multiple platforms, but the platforms are different.

“There are different engines with different characteristics, different vibration levels and things like that.

“We’re working through with the suppliers to make sure that we understand how those components are affected by the architecture that our team has chosen, and how we make sure those parts are reliable in the future.”

Diuguid added there is “confidence” in the Porsche Penske Motorsport camp to rebound from Daytona, where Acura teams finished first and second.

“We were a bit disappointed with our performance at Daytona,” he assessed.

“That effort has continued post-race, working well with Xtrac and our hybrid partners to address problems. They are our technical partners.

“We put in all the effort we can to make sure we can show up at Sebring prepared. That’s our job and our role: to represent Porsche and Penske [in] the best way.

“We’ve been testing at the IMSA open test the last two days. Our focus is to make sure we’re prepared in the next two weeks.”

According to Diuguid, this week’s IMSA sanctioned test at Sebring is “directly applicable” to Porsche’s preparations for its WEC Hypercar debut at the same track.

Michael Christensen and Dane Cameron, who will share a Porsche 963 in the WEC, are on-site with the IMSA squad.

“I think it’s directly applicable,” Diuguid said. “The technical regulations and homologations are extremely common between the two championships. The tires are the same.

“In the testing technical regulations, it was considered for manufacturers and teams like ourselves that have cars in both championships, to make sure we don’t get any advantages above anybody else. But it does apply directly.

“We have people from the WEC program here directly involved in the ground operations to maximize the efficiency of the information we’re generating.”

Porsche Ran Cars Simultaneously on Two Continents

Diuguid revealed that Porsche Penske Motorsport achieved a “milestone” on Wednesday when it ran LMDh cars simultaneously in North America and Europe.

While the IMSA test at Sebring was going on, the Europe-based WEC arm of the manufacturer’s transatlantic factory squad rolled out a 963 at Porsche’s Weissach facility.

Kevin Estre is understood to have been behind the wheel for the shakedown, which counted under the WEC’s ‘special testing’ clause for sessions lasting under one hour.

Diuguid explained that Porsche hasn’t tested in Europe since late last summer, as the focus shifted to preparations for the car’s debut at Daytona.

“Our IMSA program is testing at Sebring and our Germany team was doing a scheduled rollout for the WEC race in Sebring,” he said.

“As we continue to grow and be prepared to race in both championships, we’ll have events like that where we stretch our infrastructure and stress the personnel and operational side to understand what needs to happen.

“We have a test scheduled in Europe prior to the Sebring event, and [then] we’ll pick up the WEC season.

“There are tests sprinkled in the only holes available between the events and logistical challenges.”