Porsche and Penske will field two Porsche 963 prototypes wearing legendary liveries from the brand's endurance racing history during the six-hour race at Road America starting July 30th. The cars will display the iconic RS Spyder and 917/30 designs, honoring two of motorsport's most dominant partnerships.
The RS Spyder, a mid-engine prototype Porsche developed specifically for the now-defunct Champ Car series, won multiple championships and set the standard for customer racing programs in the 2000s. The 917/30, born from Porsche's fearsome 917 lineage, dominated Can-Am racing in the early 1970s with legendary driver Mark Donohue behind the wheel, delivering some of the most dominant performances in open-wheel history.
Both machines carried Penske colors to victory, cementing the relationship between Porsche's engineering excellence and Penske's competitive dominance. The 963, Porsche's newest hypercar prototype, continues this legacy in the top tier of global endurance racing, competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship.
Road America's six-hour event serves as a celebration of this storied partnership rather than a one-off nostalgia play. The liveries acknowledge two eras when Porsche and Penske were virtually untouchable. The RS Spyder's period saw Porsche expand its factory presence in customer racing, while the 917/30 represented peak performance during Can-Am's golden age when prototype racing pushed engineering boundaries.
Running both designs simultaneously underscores how Porsche continues building on its racing foundation. The modern 963 represents the current evolution of that philosophy: precision engineering applied to the highest levels of competition. These throwback liveries ground the current program in hard historical fact rather