Porsche is looking into the history books ahead of the start of the new season of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: With 20 overall victories for racing cars from Weissach, four more as an engine manufacturer and a special triumph in 1959, Porsche is by far the most successful manufacturer at Daytona. In addition, there are more than 40 class victories at the famous 24-hour classic in the US state of Florida. On 24 January, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team wants to continue this success story.

Porsche has been making motorsport history for around 75 years. The first chapter is considered to be the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1951, in which a factory-prepared Porsche 356 SL drove to class victory in the hands of a customer team. Porsche's triumphal march at Daytona began a few years later on 5 April 1959. Less than two months after the official opening of the impressive Daytona International Speedway, a sports car race will take place for the first time under the umbrella of the United States Auto Club (USAC). Even then, a combination of NASCAR oval and infield track was driven. The championship race, originally scheduled for 1,000 kilometers, is stopped after six hours due to nightfall. The winners come from Argentina and drive Porsches: Roberto Mieres and Antonio von Döry win in the 718 RSK ahead of the Porsche of the two Americans Bob Said and Art Bunker. Due to the other organizer, this race does not appear in the official IMSA statistics.

The 1960s: Double party on the Porsche winners' podium

IMSA's historiography begins at Daytona in 1962 – even though the championship race at that time was not yet a 24-hour race. In that year as well as in the following season, the sports car race lasts over three hours each, in the two following years over a distance of 2,000 kilometers. The race cars run twice around the clock at Daytona for the first time in the 1966 season. It was only until 4 February 1968 that a Porsche achieved its first overall triumph: under the name of the Porsche System Engineering works team, a 907 LH crossed the finish line as the winner by a wide margin, followed by two identical cars. Curiously, on the instructions of the then Porsche race director Huschke von Hanstein, the works drivers Jo Siffert, Rolf Stommelen and Hans Herrmann also jump into the leading No. 54 car of Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch for five laps each in the final phase – so the trio is also considered the winner of the race. Siffert and Herrmann also climb onto the podium again as runners-up.

The wild 70s: Porsche 917 wins and Brumos sets first scent marks

At the start of the 1970s, the Porsche 917 KH under the name of John Wyer Engineering is the measure of all things. The lightning-fast racing cars from Weissach won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1970 and 1971 in the legendary Gulf livery and fought an exciting battle with Ferrari. A six-hour race in 1972 was followed by the next Porsche triumph the following year: the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR driven by Daytona record winner Hurley Haywood and his congenial partner and Brumos boss Peter Gregg defeated the big competition in 1973. It is the first victory for the legendary Brumos Porsche team, which has shaped the history of Daytona like no other. Further successes for the 911 Carrera RSR followed in 1975 and 1977. This was followed by an incomparable series of victories that lasted until 1987: first with derivatives of the 935, then with the 962 – interrupted only by a triumph of a March in 1984, albeit powered by a Porsche engine.

"At that time, the Porsche engineers had an innovative answer to every problem," recalls Hurley Haywood, five-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He cites the 962 as an example: "The car was the answer to the fact that IMSA did not register the Porsche 956 in North America because the driver's feet were in front of the front axle. Porsche quickly moved the seating position to the rear, extended the wheelbase – and the 962, one of the most successful racing cars of all time, was born."

At the turn of the millennium: A nine-eleven drives to a sensational overall victory

From 1985 to 1991, the winners drove a Porsche 962 with the nickname IMSA. These successes and the triumph of the Kremer K8 with Porsche power in the rear continue Porsche's magnificent history at Daytona in the late 1980s and 1990s. A highlight followed in 2003 that is still hard to grasp today: the Porsche 911 GT3 RS drove to overall victory against the nominally overpowering Daytona prototypes of the top class.

The two Americans Kevin Buckler and Michael Schrom share the Racer's Group's 911 with today's Porsche brand ambassadors Timo Bernhard and Jörg Bergmeister. "We had a lead of a few laps early in the race – but by no means in such a way that we could have rested and only carried the car to the finish. On the contrary, we were in a situation we had never imagined. On course for overall victory with a GT car? Actually unthinkable," Bergmeister recalls. "During the night we had a conversation in the pits along the lines of: 'Unbelievable, but something is going on here!' Only then did initial amazement mature into a concrete and ultimately successful plan," adds Bernhard.

Porsche 963 as a benchmark: Will the third Daytona victory in a row follow in 2026?

During the long history of the Daytona prototypes, Porsche entered the list of winners two more times as an engine partner in the 2000s. After an intermezzo with DPi cars, there are finally joint technical regulations with the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Porsche is developing the 963 hybrid prototype together with partners and will use it in both the World Championship and the IMSA series under the Porsche Penske Motorsport banner from 2023. This has been achieved with huge success, especially in North America: Daytona victories in 2024 and 2025, winning all GTP championship titles in both years.