www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche and the Triple Crown of endurance racing Published: 7th December 2018 By: Martin Raffauf Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/porsche-and-the-triple-crown-of-endurance-racing/ Le Mans 24 Hours, 13-14 June 1970: A jubilant Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood are given a ride on the back of a truck as they celebrate Porsche’s first victory in the French endurance race There are three Sports Car endurance races that have been run over the past sixty-plus years that have been referred to as the ‘Triple Crown’. Arguably, some can say other races should also be included, but these three have withstood the test of time, and they are the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Sebring 12 Hours, and the Daytona 24 Hours. www.porscheroadandrace.com 12 Hours of Sebring, 26 March 1960: Porsche’s first overall win at Sebring in the USA was achieved by Olivier Gendebien and Hans Herrmann driving a 718 RS 60 Spyder The Le Mans 24 Hours started in 1923, and apart from a brief hiatus for the Second World War, it has been going ever since. The 12 Hours of Sebring was started in 1952 (it ran as a 6-hour race in 1950 and 1951) by Alec Ulmann on a World War II vintage US Air Force base, in Sebring Florida, making use of some disused runways to create a 5.2-mile circuit. Daytona, the youngest of the three races, started out of course as a NASCAR stock car track in 1957. In 1962, the France family added an International sports car race to the schedule, and the 24 hours of Daytona was born, although the first two races were 3-hour races, and then 1964 and 1965 they were 2000 km events. In 1966, the first 24 hours was run, only taking a hiatus in 1974 when, due to the oil crisis, the race was cancelled. There was an additional oddity in 1972 when the race only ran to a 6-hour distance due to the fragility of the 3.0-litre cars of the day. www.porscheroadandrace.com 24 Hours of Daytona, 3-4 February 1968: Hans Herrmann, Rolf Stommelen, Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch and Jo Siffert shared the driving in the #54 Porsche 907 LH in the famous 1-2-3 Porsche finish Each of the races has its own idiosyncrasies and have proven difficult to win. Le Mans, a high- speed event, has proven very hard on machinery, the speed taking its toll on mechanical components and driver concentration. Daytona, with its high banks, is especially hard on cars and tyres, and due to the shorter circuit length (compared with Le Mans), is especially difficult due to the traffic. The Daytona race, because of the time of year it is held, also runs over fifty percent of the event in darkness, unlike Le Mans, which has a longer daylight period. Sebring, while just 12 hours long, is just as difficult. The bumpy nature of the concrete roadway (the airport runways were built in the 1940s) takes its toll on suspension and gearbox components. It’s a hard race to finish, never mind win. www.porscheroadandrace.com 12 Hours of Sebring, 26 March 1960: Porsche race mechanic Eberhard Storz attends the Porsche 718 RS 60 Spyder ahead of its first overall win at Sebring in the USA driven by Olivier Gendebien and Hans Herrmann Over the years, the rules have also changed, and the same cars did not always run at each event in a given year, although this is more the case now than in days gone by. www.porscheroadandrace.com 24 Hours of Daytona, 3-4 February 1968: Hans Herrmann, Rolf Stommelen, Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch and Jo Siffert shared the driving in the #54 Porsche 907 LH As you would suspect, Porsche has played a leading role in all three of these races. Starting in the 1950s, and up through to recent years, cars like the 718, 907, 935, 956 and 962 have claimed many overall victories on these three circuits. Porsche however, was not the exclusive car for the drivers who have accomplished this feat of winning all three races in their careers. Amazingly, only nine drivers have accomplished the feat of winning this ‘Triple Crown’ (that is, the Le Mans 24 hours, Daytona 24 hours and Sebring 12 hours), and all but one are still living. If you count the five events at Daytona that did not run a 24-hour distance (1962, www.porscheroadandrace.com 1963, 1964, 1965, 1972), then you could add three additional drivers to the list. 24 Hours of Daytona, 3-4 February 1968: Hans Herrmann, Rolf Stommelen, Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch and Jo Siffert shared the driving in the #54 Porsche 907 LH By now of course you are wondering, who are these nine drivers? Without further ado then, they are: Hans Herrmann, Hurley Haywood, AJ Foyt, Al Holbert, Andy Wallace, Mauro Baldi, Jackie Oliver, Marco Werner and Timo Bernhard. Sports Car Triple Crown of Endurance winners Total Year Le Mans Driver Daytona 24 Hours Sebring 12 Hours wins completed 24 Hours www.porscheroadandrace.com Hans Herrmann 4 1970 1968 1960, 1968 1970 Jackie Oliver 3 1971 1971 1969 1969 1973, 1975, 1977, Hurley Haywood 10 1977 1973, 1981 1977, 1983, 1994 1979, 1991 AJ Foyt 4 1985 1983, 1985 1985 1967 Al Holbert 7 1986 1986, 1987 1976, 1981 1983, 1986, 1987 Andy Wallace 6 1992 1990, 1997, 1999 1992, 1993 1988 Mauro Baldi 4 1998 1998, 2002 1998 1994 Marco Werner 7 2005 1995 2003, 2005, 2007 2005, 2006, 2007 Timo Bernhard 4 2010 2003 2008 2010, 2017 If you count the five Daytona races that were not 24 hours in length Phil Hill 6 1964 1964 (a) 1958, 1961 1958, 1961, 1962 Dan Gurney 3 1967 1962 (b) 1959 1967 1969, 1975, Jacky Ickx 9 1972 1972 (c) 1969, 1972 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982 (a) When Phil Hill won the Daytona race in 1964 in a Ferrari it was only 2000 km in distance (b) When Dan Gurney won the Daytona race in 1962 in a Lotus Climax it was only a 3-hour www.porscheroadandrace.com race (c) When Jacky Ickx won Daytona in 1972 it was only a 6-hour race Hans Herrmann was the first to win all three. He won Sebring overall in 1960 in a Porsche 718 RS 60 co-driving with Olivier Gendebien, beating a similar car driven by Bob Holbert (Al’s father) and entered by Brumos Porsche. In 1968, Herrmann was again part of the winning crew at Daytona driving a factory Porsche 907. He completed the Triple at Le Mans in 1970 in a Porsche 917 (Porsche’s first overall victory in the French race) with Richard Attwood. He then promptly retired! Le Mans 24 Hours, 13-14 June 1970: The #23 Porsche 917 KH of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood crosses the finish line first, giving Porsche its first Le Mans victory The last driver to win the Triple was Timo Bernhard, when he won Le Mans in 2010 in an www.porscheroadandrace.com Audi R15 TDI, completing the last leg of the Triple. Bernhard’s road to winning the Triple started with the first leg back in 2003 by winning the Daytona 24 Hours overall in a Porsche 996 GT3 RS when the faster prototype cars all broke down. This was followed in 2008, when he won Sebring overall as part of the driving crew in the Penske entered Porsche RS Spyder. Since his Le Mans win in 2010 in the Audi, Bernhard has also added a 2017 victory to his tally. 24 Hours of Daytona, 1-2 February 2003: Michael Schrom, Kevin Buckler, Jörg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard drove their #66 Porsche 911 GT3 RS to victory www.porscheroadandrace.com 12 Hours of Sebring, 15 March 2008: Timo Bernhard (left) Romain Dumas (right) drove their #7 Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 to victory 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12-13 June 2010: Timo Bernhard, Mike Rockenfeller and Romain www.porscheroadandrace.com Dumas brought the #9 Audi R15 TDI across the line first in Audi’s famous 1-2-3 finish 24 Hours of Le Mans, 17-18 June 2017: Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley win the 24-hour race in the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid Jackie Oliver won all three races, on one occasion each. In 1969, he won both Sebring and Le Mans with Jacky Ickx in the Gulf Ford GT40, and he completed the Triple in 1971 by winning Daytona with Pedro Rodriguez in the Gulf 917. www.porscheroadandrace.com (Left) Porsche racing driver Jackie Oliver 1971; (above) 24 Hours of Daytona, 30-31 January 1971: The #2 Gulf Porsche 917 K of Pedro Rodriguez/Jackie Oliver calls into the pits on its way to victory – John Horsman stands behind the vehicle (wearing glasses) Only one of the nine drivers accomplished the feat without driving ANY Porsches to victory www.porscheroadandrace.com in his winning years, and that driver is Andy Wallace. He won Le Mans in 1988 for Jaguar, then Daytona and Sebring with the Dan Gurney Toyota team in the early 1990s. He added two additional Daytona wins in the Riley&Scott Mk III-Ford in the late 1990s. 24 Hours of Daytona, 1-2 February 1997: Andy Wallace in the Dyson Racing Riley & Scott Mk3 – Ford on its way to victory Hurley Haywood won ten of these races, incredibly all in Porsches. He won Daytona five times, using the Carrera RSR three times (1973, 1975, 1977); the 935 (1979) and the 962 (1991).