“Penske perfect” was once the way motorsport fans described Roger Penske‘s racing organization, but the team has really been tap dancing on the edge of a cliff lately when it comes to following the rulebook in all the various series it races in. Over the last 18 months the team has had its times thrown out in qualifying over cheating scandals at all three of the biggest international events that it competes in, the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500, and now the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After the defending FIA WEC champions number 6 car (above) of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matt Campbell showed well in Wednesday evening’s qualifying session with the fourth-fastest time and good enough to get into Thursday’s hyperpole proceedings, the car was found by stewards to be underweight. As a result of running too light, the car’s qualifying times were negated and the team will have to start their Le Mans effort from 21st on the grid, at the back of the string of hypercar classed runners.
Running the factory-supported Porsche 963 squad at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an effort which aims to earn the German brand’s record 20th victory at the circuit, is a major responsibility. It is unlike Team Penske, or honestly any Porsche factory effort, to commit an unforced error like this one. Typically everything runs so smoothly, and as the team’s nearly-perfect IMSA win streak proves, the team knows how to execute. The technical delegate at Le Mans did not release how underweight the car was, but even a gram would be unacceptable by the standards of the rulebook.
What’s next?
Here’s the full ruling, as clarified by the Stewards at the race: “After having examined the Technical Delegate report, the Stewards considered the minimum car weight did not comply with the relevant regulations. During the hearing, the Team Manager confirmed and accepted the procedure of the scrutineering and the measurements. Consequently, the Stewards decided to impose the disqualification of car 6 from the qualifying session. The car 6 will start at the back of the grid of his category according to the Article 10.2.2 of 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans supplementary regulations.”
While running a car underweight is typically not an intentional effort to deceive the stewards or subvert the competition, it is a serious offense and should be avoided by any costs necessary. This isn’t likely to be an intentional rule breaking, or even a subtle toe over the line as Joey Logano’s Daytona “webbed glove” or Josef Newgarden’s Indy “blended attenuator” but it’s potentially indicative of larger problems within the team that it can’t even follow the most basic of rules.
Ultimately qualifying at Le Mans is not nearly as important as it would be at a shorter race like Daytona or Indy, but once again the Penske crew will be starting from the back in one of the most important races of the season. It’s becoming a familiar refrain, and one I’m sure the octogenarian billionaire businessman team owner is tired of hearing.
