19/04/2025 17:21
In contrast to its perfect start to the IMSA GTP season, winning three out of three races, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s realistic target for the second WEC race of the year tomorrow in Imola is to put points on the board and stay in the mix for a podium throughout.
Jonathan Diuguid, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s managing director, feels the team is in better shape here in Italy than it was in the season opener at Qatar, where its 963s finished 10th and 11th. But there’s no expectation that the team will be competing for the win in Emila Romagna, certainly on raw pace against Ferrari AF Corse, which has emerged as the heavy favorite.
A 499P topped each of the three practice sessions, and the No. 51 claimed pole position with a sizable gap to the fastest car from the competition. Races are not won on qualifying day, of course, but the safe bet is on the hometown team as it stands.
“We have to score maximum points — we only scored a single point with one car in Qatar, so we are looking to add points to our tally any way we can get there,” Diuguid told RACER. “Ferrari is definitely out front, they’re the ones we are all chasing. After that, it’s quite tight and race execution comes into play between BMW, Cadillac, Porsche, Alpine and Toyota. If any of those teams get the strategy right or drivers perform well, then they can be fourth and back. Selfishly, we would have preferred a bit of rain tomorrow to spice things up and give us an opportunity. The 963 performs well in the wet, and our drivers do a good job.”
It’s not all doom and gloom at Porsche, though. Through the first four races of the year in IMSA and the WEC, Porsche feels that the suspension update for the 963 for this season has made a positive impact, and there’s a long way to go in the WEC season.
“The updates have shown that they were the right decision, particularly in IMSA on bumpy circuits like Sebring and Long Beach,” Diuguid said. “They’re paying dividends here too — it shows we are going in the right direction, and it keeps us focused on improving the performance of the car.”
It’s a similar situation for Porsche in the LMGT3 ranks, where Iron Dames and Manthey 1st Phorm are also confident of a better result here than at the Lusail circuit, where the two 911 GT3 R 99s struggled for pace and finished 12th and 13th.
“We are more on pace here,” said Iron Dames driver Michelle Gatting, who will start tomorrow’s race 14th. “There, it was a shame — we were out of contention for anything. What they managed to achieve last year was always going to be hard to replicate this year.
“We are where we want to be, but we have to take the positives, and that is that we will be better than at Qatar and fighting for points. Tire management is really important here — on the right side especially — and we are good at that.”
Penske is already keenly focused on maximizing its performance at Le Mans in June, when it hopes to deliver Porsche a 20th overall win at the French classic.
“We have a test in Paul Ricard after the race at Spa, and we have a team day ahead of that," Diuguid said. “We are focused on car preparation mostly, as we front-loaded a lot of our testing early in the year to prepare for Le Mans.”
Part of the preparations for the race included making a final driver selection for the brand's third car. Reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein has been called up for his Le Mans debut to race alongside IMSA GTP championship leaders Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the No. 4.
According to Diuguid, the German made the cut from a shortlist of three drivers after impressing during his outing at the Rolex 24 At Daytona with Porsche customer team JDC-Miller.
“He’s been good, he’s been on pace,” Diuguid said of Wehrlein. “He raced in Daytona with JDC and got multi-class experience. That’s where his experience is the weakest, not that he didn’t do extremely well there; he excelled with that crew.
“He’s been testing with us on track and getting plenty of simulator time to ensure he is prepared.”
