Monaco Increase Management contracted driver Pascal Wehrlein had his first experience of sportscar racing this weekend when he took part in the Rolex 24 Hours endurance classic at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
The 30-year-old German took time off from the defence of his Formula E world title at the wheel of the factory TAG-Heuer Porsche 99X, to join the US-based JDC-Miller MotorSports customer team for the opening round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in a Porsche 963 LMDh GTP.
It was a positive debut for the reigning world champion – and Daytona rookie – who had lined up for the start together with the team’s full-season signings, the experienced Italian Gianmaria Bruni, Tijmen van der Helm from the Netherlands and the American Bryce Aron.
Starting fifth thanks to an excellent time of 1m36.182s set by Bruni, the designated driver for the 15-minute qualifying session on Thursday, Pascal and his teammates took the chequered flag in an overall sixth place, never once dropping out of the top-10 and lapping in or around fifth/sixth place throughout.
It was not a race without its problems however as the yellow JDC Porsche appeared to suffer with a braking issue right from the start, the front and rear brakes not reaching optimal working temperatures, which had an impact on performance.
Then two drive-through penalties during Aron’s stint in the nighttime hours, followed by a stop-and-repair penalty for tyre requirements with less than two-and-a-half hours to go, meant that the quartet of drivers were unable to push their 963 LMDh any higher than P5.
But this was clearly an encouraging first race for debutant Wehrlein, who gained more experience in a totally new category of racing, against numerous qualified rivals and top manufacturer teams.
‟Thank you very much for this opportunity – it was a lot of fun,” he declared. “I learnt a lot on every lap in the Porsche 963 and was able to keep improving my pace. The car held up well, so I got a lot of driving time. Unfortunately, we had some difficulties throughout the race, especially with a lack of temperature in the brakes. Nevertheless, sixth place is a good result. More was not within reach. Congratulations to Porsche and my fellow drivers. Now I’m looking forward to a few hours’ sleep.”
It was an excellent result also for JDC-Miller MotorSports, which was the first customer Porsche team to the finish, and for the Porsche factory team, which placed identical 963s in first and third place, for an unrivalled twentieth Daytona win for the German manufacturer.
Pascal’s manager, MIM CEO Salvatore Gandolfo, declared: “A good result for Pascal in his first Daytona, and for JDC, the first customer Porsche team to the finish. A big thanks from the management of MIM to Porsche, the JDC team and all the drivers involved. Let’s see where this experience will lead to in the future.”
Photos: Courtesy of Porsche
