Jonathan Diuguid, the managing director of Team Penske, has given a more detailed explanation of the post-race penalty that was handed to the Porsche Penske Motorsport team after the IMSA WeatherTech Endurance Cup race at Indianapolis last month.
Following the race, IMSA announced an in-depth technical inspection for seven GTP cars. The inspections were completed late Monday after the race, and the #6 Porsche and #40 WTRAndretti Acura were dropped to the bottom of the GTP results for racing with non-homologated parts. Both manufacturers also received fines.
The Porsche – driven by Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy – which was originally classified in third place, was found to have modifications to its wiring harness/loom.
Speaking with reporters this afternoon, Diuguid explained that the infraction took the team by surprise.
“Entering that process none of us were nervous about anything or concerned,” he said. “Ultimately the outcome was that IMSA found that a homologation procedure hadn’t been followed.”
He went on to explain that the loom concerned the right-hand sidepod of the #6.
“We are talking about a right-hand sidepod loom which feeds the leader light panel and the transponder on the right-hand side of the car. Basically, it was a procedural process for an update to the length in the routing wasn’t followed and it was updated on the PPM cars and ultimately not done on the customer cars,” he continued.
“While it was disappointing, the process and the rules and regulations exist. An update had been made on the Porsche side due to some CAN (Controller Area Network) errors that we’d experienced in 2023 and the early part of 2024. None of those CAN errors existed since the update happened.
“At Road Atlanta all the Porsche 963s are going to run the exact same sidepod loom that the #6 car raced with in IMSA. Between the Indy race and now we will have completed the procedural process required to make that loom ‘legal’. It’s no physical change to the loom, it’s just filling out the paperwork. And the process is going to be the same for all the 963s globally.
“In the end, it was a procedural issue that wasn’t followed. I would say that the discussions with IMSA were positive and at the end of the day they are there to enforce the regulations as they are written. Ultimately we are fully supportive of the process.”
The result of the #6 car’s penalty means that Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr in the #7 hold a 124-point advantage in the Drivers’ standings over Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the sister car, with 385 points up for grabs at Road Atlanta next weekend.
However, Diuguid says that the increase in the #7 crew’s lead hasn’t changed the team’s strategy for Petit Le Mans, where Porsche will be gunning for the Drivers’, Teams and Manufacturers’ overall and Endurance Cup titles.
“It doesn’t really change the team’s approach,” he said. “The #7 car was going to be leading the points regardless of the outcome, so I think that they were the clear favourite and capturing the championship is the goal of the programme. We are going to go into the race doing the same thing we’ve been doing all year.”
