Welcome to Part 2 of DSC’s bumper Inside Team Penske feature. Missed out on Part 1? Catch up HERE >>>
As we entered the room, the first chassis we were directed to by Joel Svensson was the dedicated pit-stop practice car, which sits beside a show car fresh from an appearance at the PRI show.
“It’s a really busy time for us right now,” he says. “We put each car through a set-up and performance analysis programme before each IMSA and WEC event. We use data from the circuit and simulator to help us define the setup. And as a staff, we get into a regular schedule between the races. The training programme is heavy.
“Our guys go to the gym three times and do two pit stop practice sessions. Then, when we get to a load-up week, we run through a full programme that goes through different scenarios. There’s always something going on, and that’s the case everywhere in this facility. Nobody sits still, as we all want to deliver the results Mr. Penske expects.”
Across the room are the bays for the current race chassis, which were being stripped down and inspected post-Sebring ahead of Long Beach, along with a working spare and the 2024 Daytona 24 Hours-winning tub.
“Normally, after a race weekend, the team members come back, they all help unload the trucks, then we do set up checks, weight checks, steering test, brake stabs, check the A/C. After that, we take the bodywork off, clean everything and make lists before sending pieces to the carbon shop.
“We divide our team into groups for each area of the car. So, we have a front-end group and a rear-end group that ensures each car is built up the same way each time. It makes it all efficient. We operate with seven sets of bodywork, which come from Porsche in Europe, and we make sure to scan the cars before the big races like Daytona and Sebring.
“What’s different to NASCAR is they operate with a lot more cars, the entire cycle and turnaround are different. For us, with the sportscars, the build time and strip-down time depend on the race and the time spent in the shop. We can prep cars quickly for the short races like Long Beach and Detroit, but for the Endurance Cup races, we take our time and blow everything apart.”
Svensson’s team pays attention to detail, and for good reason, it works! Porsche Penske Motorsport scored a 1-2 on the Californian street track following DSC’s visit, extending the ‘Penske Perfect’ start to the season.
Next up, stripped back to its bare carbon, the 2024 Daytona winning car is being rebuilt meticulously from the ground up and painted (rather than wrapped) before being made a museum piece. It’s one of several major side projects regularly undertaken by each department.
For instance, a partially built Penske GTP pit structure was in the middle of the fabrication shop when DSC was on-site. Ever wondered where a race team in IMSA gets its pit gantry set up? Penske has designed its own, in-house, as a bespoke piece of kit to suit PPM’s requirements.
The NASCAR floor, meanwhile, is overlooked by the iconic ‘Blue Hilton’ transporter, which was in service during the 70s and 80s Can-Am era. After being found, run down, and for sale, it was restored by Penske staff in time for Roger’s 80th birthday.
I’ve been there since 2007, and it feels like it’s home for me
The sportscar area and the adjacent sub-assembly rooms are the final stops on this tour. For the enthusiast, it’s a goldmine. It’s the same shop that housed the RS Spyder LMP2 project from 2007 and, more recently, hosted its DPi foray with Acura, before the current push for IMSA and FIA WEC glory with Porsche.
For Svensson, who previously acted as crew chief during the Acura years, and the 40 others who report to him, Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid and Travis Law, the programme’s competition director, it’s a comfortable, tranquil place to work.
The facility, and the surrounding area in Mooresville that countless teams and vendors call home, is the ideal place to operate from.
“It’s always interesting to see people’s first-time reaction to our place,” Law (above) says. “I’ve been there since 2007, and it feels like it’s home for me, you know.
“It’s the place that I’ve reported to work the entire time I’ve worked for Team Penske. And I take a lot of pride in that. I’m sure, to the outsider it’s an immense place and like a labyrinth with all these different divisions and areas. But for me, personally, it’s definitely home, and it feels like a pretty small corner of the world to be honest.”
An element that must not be forgotten is that Team Penske’s endurance programme with Porsche is fighting, and winning, on two fronts in the current era. The Mooresville base preps and operates the IMSA GTP 963s, while the new base in Mannheim, Germany is responsible for the FIA WEC Hypercar effort.
The era of convergence between the LMDh and LMH rules from IMSA and the FIA/ACO is the key behind this, allowing a manufacturer like Porsche to compete in the two premier championships with the same car. From Team Penske’s point of view, the current era’s appeal comes in the form of a grand opportunity.
With its partner OEM, it can compete with the same car at some of the biggest races on the planet and fight for a World Championship without needing to develop two completely separate cars in parallel.
“As a group, we formed a global team to try and take advantage of both championships and bring a singular approach to car development, car preparation and improving our performance. We mix our personnel for the big races like Daytona and Le Mans, so there’s plenty of cross-pollination,” Jonathan Diuguid (below) says.
“We prepare the cars the same, and we are in constant contact when the time zones allow. It’s not easy, but we really try to utilise the brains we have under our roof. There are different cultures in Europe and the US, and we respect that, but there is a Penske feel to the atmosphere at both bases. We’ve built something I’m really proud of.”
Both facilities are dedicated to specific tasks based on geography, but there’s plenty of crossover. Data is shared, as is knowledge and experience.
“We have a good heritage in sportscar racing with Penske. You can go all the way back to the RS Spyder programme and find names still involved in the team’s effort today, back with Porsche. We have a great working relationship with Porsche’s engineers, and within Mooresville, we have a lead engineer from Porsche’s side who lives close by,” Law explains.
You can go all the way back to the RS Spyder programme and find names still involved in the team’s effort today
“Then in Mannheim, we are closer to Weissach, and the doors are open on both sides. There are three legs to the stool with Mooresville, Mannheim and Weissach, which means we can tackle any problem quickly. We have a global advantage. Around the clock, someone from Porsche Penske Motorsport is working on what’s important for us, somewhere in the world. It’s a huge benefit to us”
This is particularly relevant when preparing for the Le Mans 24 Hours, when the WEC crews have been joined by a third 963 from the IMSA side.
“The last two years we shipped everything to Mooresville, built the third car here, shook it down at Watkins Glen, then shipped it to Le Mans,” Svensson (below) details.
“This year will be different. We will build the car in Mannheim, send people to Germany to help with that and shake it down over there. It’s a better option logistically and financially, and still means that 90 per cent of the staff working on the car at Le Mans are involved.
“It’s complicated because we have Watkins Glen the weekend after. We need to be 100 per cent prepared and make sure we have the right people in the right places and ready to go. ”
Porsche Penske Motorsport has claimed IMSA GTP titles, an FIA WEC drivers’ World Championship and major wins in the IMSA Endurance Cup rounds at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen since the LMDh project began. But there’s one major item on Roger Penske’s list that’s not yet been ticked off: an overall Le Mans win.
If that big victory comes before the 963 era eventually comes to a close, the headlines will write themselves. It would be Team Penske’s first and Porsche’s 20th overall at Le Mans.
And the word on the street is, Mr. Penske has a space in mind in Mooresville for that trophy, “when” – not “if” – he wins it.
Images courtesy of Team Penske & IMSA
