Newgarden, who won America’s biggest open-wheel oval race at his 12th attempt, will aim for overall victory at Daytona next month in his first bid for overall class honors – having made his sportscar debut in the LMP2 class in the Floridian sportscar classic in 2023.
Driving alongside Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr and Frederic Makowiecki in Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #7 963, Newgarden tested at Daytona last week – having joined the squad for the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, where he finished fourth.
“I know the team is very eager to add to what they did in the inaugural season,” Newgarden told Motorsport.com. “Winning Daytona would be a big deal for everybody. The challenge of being successful over 24 hours is one I’m not used to, so I’d love to succeed at that.
“Winning any of the endurance events – including Sebring or Petit – the championship overall and then obviously Le Mans and everything on the WEC side would be huge for the team.
“The potential that the team’s had all year is encouraging. For me, stepping into the program to do my part, do a great job to help them, I’m really encouraged.
“There’s a lot of opportunities in front of all of us. I’m excited and honored to be a part of it.”
Reflecting on his Petit outing, Newgarden came away disappointed with the result, having felt the 963 was on the cusp of the battle for victory without quite getting there.
“It was kind of a rollercoaster, because I felt that we had great potential and the race ebbed and flowed for us,” he said. “There were parts where it was looking really good and then obviously it didn’t materialize how we all hoped.
“It was tough to lose the #6 car early [which crashed out after a collision between backmarkers], through no fault of their own, and that limits your options as a team. We just didn’t fully get there in the #7 car.”
Newgarden and his team-mates were focused on endurance running in last week’s two-day Daytona test, with their 963 logging a huge amount of laps – giving him plenty of much-needed seat time, which included running with GTD cars on the second day.
“We’ve kinda been dividing and conquering between the cars, different objectives between performance and endurance reliability,” explained Newgarden. “I’ve more on the endurance side of things, logging laps, and for me it’s a case of acclimating to this car on this track – I’ve never been here before in the 963.
“It’s been a good learning experience for me, to get the cadence and the processes down before we come back for the real thing next month.”
