Porsche 962: Photographing the Final Daytona 24 Victory of an IMSA GTP Legend
- Brian Cleary
- 1 minute ago
- 3 min read
One of the cool things about having a career in motorsport photography as long
as I have, is you get the opportunity to see entire eras come and go right in front of your eyes.
These periods begin and end, sometimes before you have the chance to realize that you are watching history in the making.
For instance, I was lucky enough to photograph the entire GTP era in IMSA racing in the 1980s and 1990s and, for me, one of the most amazing machines of that time period was the Porsche 962. The 962 won the 24 Hours of Daytona 5 times and I was there for all of these victories.
So as I photographed the 1991 24 Hours of Daytona, I had no way of knowing that this would be these last time the legendary machine would drive into Daytona's victory lane (excluding historic events of course).
In 1991 the driver lineup of sports car legends Hurley Haywood, Bob Wollek, Henri Pescarolo, Frank Jelinski and Louis Krages were behind the wheel of the Joest Racing No. 7 Porsche 962 and delivered one of the event's most dominating performances, completing 719 laps and winning by a sizable margin.
This race would mark both Haywood and Wollek's final wins in the event and would be Pescarolo's only Daytona 24 victory.
The durability and performance of the 962 served it well in this event, as it outlasted early challenges, a little weather and the attrition that always accompanies endurance races.
I always loved the design and lines of the 962, which was obviously a machine that meant business without any over-the-top frills or in-your-face outlandish features that many racing machines embrace.
While I had a number of favorite Porsche 962 liveries over the years, the car that came home first in 1992 at Daytona was, at least in my mind, not the most beautiful presentation of this racer.
Still, the Joest Racing version that posted the Porsche 962's final Daytona 24 win and delivered legends Hurley Haywood and Bob Wollek to the top step of the Daytona podium for their final times, did the brand proud and I consider my 1991 Daytona 24 gallery one of the favorites of my sports car racing archive.
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Original photography and firsthand visual history by Brian Cleary.
All images © Brian Cleary. Editorial licensing available.
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