Porsche And Penske Unveil Retro Liveries Celebrating Dominant Victories At Road America

Significant anniversaries for Porsche and Penske this year have given racing fans a colorful glimpse back to its catalog of beloved liveries. And this long-running partnership isn't done resurrecting iconic paint schemes from seasons past. Porsche and Penske announced on Tuesday that their 963 prototypes will be racing with a pair of throwback liveries at this weekend's Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.

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Porsche Penske Motorsport's two current GTP entries will be painted in the colors of two machines that once reigned supreme on North America's sports car racing circuit. The No. 6 963 will run the Sunoco livery that was worn by the Porsche 917/30 during the 1970s. The original blue-and-yellow prototype won seven races in a row across the nine-round 1973 Can-Am season. The No. 7 963 will race with a much more recent paint job, the DHL livery from the 2000s Porsche RS Spyder. The LMP2 dominated its class during the 2007 American Le Mans Series season, winning all but one race.

Porsche and Penske opted to run these historic liveries at Road America's 6-hour enduro to commemorate specific triumphs of the original equipment. In 1973, Mark Donohue's No. 6 Porsche 917/30 led a podium sweep for the German automaker, where a trio of 917s lapped the entire field. At the 2007 Generac 500 at Road America, Porsche RS Spyder Evo took its first overall ALMS victory as a less powerful LMP2 entry over a field of potent LMP1s. Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in the No. 7 RS Spyder defeated a pair of factory Audi R10 TDIs. Two dominant performances that continue to resonate today.

Porsche

If you haven't been keeping up with Porsche Penske Motorsport's retro liveries so far, the team raced in the colors of the 1996 Porsche 911 GT1 at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Then, it revived the rainbow-striped Apple Computer livery for Laguna Seca. Hopefully, this weekend isn't the last throwback outing for Penske in its 60th anniversary year and Porsche's celebration of 75 years in motorsport.