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GRAND-AM
LE MANS: Penske Continues To Evaluate Sports Car Options
Penske Racing president Tim Cindric updates Marshall Pruett on the team's active desire to add sports car racing back to its open-wheel and stock car empire.
Penske Racing president Tim Cindric (white shirt) was there for Porsche's P2 launch at Monterey in 2005, and hopes to find a new partner to continue in sports car racing. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
If Roger Penske has his way, Penske Racing will add sports car racing back to an empire that includes championships in open-wheel, stock cars and a variety of tin-top and prototype organizations.
Speaking at last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup banquet, The Captain revealed his desire to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans—one of the few famous races his team has to win under the 'Penske Racing' banner. And according to Penske Racing president Tim Cindric, returning to sports car racing continues to serve as a priority for the North Carolina-based outfit.
“When Roger said he wanted to put Tony Stewart in one of our [Indy cars] and said he wants to race at Le Mans, those weren’t hollow words,” Cindric told SPEED.com. “It’s something we’re continuing to explore. We looked at running our own sports car program (without manufacturer support) and searched for sponsorship, but it just wasn’t there to do a program of our won like that.”
After running its factory P2 program in the ALMS, Penske Racing continues to be linked with Porsche’s brand-new P1 effort set to debut in 2014, but Cindric denied a deal is in place.
“I heard a report out of Europe, it might have during a race broadcast, that said we were part of what Porsche’s doing with their new car, but that isn’t the case. After the RS Spyder deal wound down, we did a season in GRAND-AM with Porsche (in 2009), but that was just a one-year deal.
“We liked the racing there and I think the two series coming together next year (ALMS and GRAND-AM) is moving things in the right direction, but we’re at a place where we would love to engage in sports cars, but it would have to be with a manufacturer to make that happen.”
It’s known that discussions between Penske and Porsche were held regarding the new P1 car, but when the German marque underwent a management shakeup late last year, assigning ex-BMW F1 man Fritz Enzinger as its ‘LMP1 project head,’ the conversation shifted towards fielding a full works team from its European base.
That decision has left Cindric and Penske searching for a manufacturer in need of a championship-winning partner to spearhead its sports car program.
“It’s not our policy to mention which companies we speak with, but there have been a lot of talks taking place,” said Cindric. “We’ve certainly put it out there that we’re interest and these things take time to develop, which we also understand. The door is cracked open, and we’ll continue to talk with parties that are interested.”
Those talks should continue next week in Sebring.
“I’ll be at Barber for IndyCar testing, but head down to Sebring for Thursday because my son (USF2000 driver Austin Cindric) is racing there and I’m sure there will be plenty of people to talk to on the sports car side. Like I said, we’ll keep having those talks until hopefully something positive comes out of it. We wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t important to us.”
Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.
Speaking at last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup banquet, The Captain revealed his desire to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans—one of the few famous races his team has to win under the 'Penske Racing' banner. And according to Penske Racing president Tim Cindric, returning to sports car racing continues to serve as a priority for the North Carolina-based outfit.
“When Roger said he wanted to put Tony Stewart in one of our [Indy cars] and said he wants to race at Le Mans, those weren’t hollow words,” Cindric told SPEED.com. “It’s something we’re continuing to explore. We looked at running our own sports car program (without manufacturer support) and searched for sponsorship, but it just wasn’t there to do a program of our won like that.”
After running its factory P2 program in the ALMS, Penske Racing continues to be linked with Porsche’s brand-new P1 effort set to debut in 2014, but Cindric denied a deal is in place.
“I heard a report out of Europe, it might have during a race broadcast, that said we were part of what Porsche’s doing with their new car, but that isn’t the case. After the RS Spyder deal wound down, we did a season in GRAND-AM with Porsche (in 2009), but that was just a one-year deal.
“We liked the racing there and I think the two series coming together next year (ALMS and GRAND-AM) is moving things in the right direction, but we’re at a place where we would love to engage in sports cars, but it would have to be with a manufacturer to make that happen.”
It’s known that discussions between Penske and Porsche were held regarding the new P1 car, but when the German marque underwent a management shakeup late last year, assigning ex-BMW F1 man Fritz Enzinger as its ‘LMP1 project head,’ the conversation shifted towards fielding a full works team from its European base.
That decision has left Cindric and Penske searching for a manufacturer in need of a championship-winning partner to spearhead its sports car program.
“It’s not our policy to mention which companies we speak with, but there have been a lot of talks taking place,” said Cindric. “We’ve certainly put it out there that we’re interest and these things take time to develop, which we also understand. The door is cracked open, and we’ll continue to talk with parties that are interested.”
Those talks should continue next week in Sebring.
“I’ll be at Barber for IndyCar testing, but head down to Sebring for Thursday because my son (USF2000 driver Austin Cindric) is racing there and I’m sure there will be plenty of people to talk to on the sports car side. Like I said, we’ll keep having those talks until hopefully something positive comes out of it. We wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t important to us.”
Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.
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