The English racing driver John Fitzpatrick was a four-time winner of the Porsche Cup, a prize awarded to the best private Porsche driver of the year. Also active in America, he won in 1980 seven of the fourteen races of the IMSA Championship with a Porsche 935K3.
In 1981 Fitzpatrick creates his team, the John Fitzpatrick Racing (JFR). In the same year the FIA defines the rules of its new Group C, to be applicable from the following year. For these competitions, Porsche develops the 956, the first car of the brand with an aluminum monocoque, and benefiting from aerodynamic studies improving cornering stability by using the ground effect.
From 1982 to 1985 25 units of the 956 are built. The goal is achieved : they dominate the Group C. The third factory car is second at Le Mans in 1982 and wins in 1983. It was sold for $ 10.1M including premium by Gooding on August 15, 2015.
In 1983 a 956 is bought new by JFR. It immediately enters Le Mans and the Norisring in Nuremberg. Unfortunately the FIA and IMSA safety rules are not fully compatible and all the 956 are excluded from IMSA competitions including Daytona and Sebring.
Fitzpatrick uses a 935 for the IMSA but his 956 is still part of the trip. Driven by him it wins its first American race, the Can-Am Road America. Before returning to Europe it is ranked 3rd at another Can-Am competition in Mosport, Canada. It is the unique 956 with an American history in period.
The best achievement of this car is its victory with Fitzpatrick and Warwick at the 1000 km of Brands Hatch in September of the same year. For that competition it benefited from an extension of the ventilation system that was not yet applied to the factory cars.
Not raced after the 1984 Le Mans, this 956 remains in a very good original condition. It is estimated $ 5.25M for sale by RM Sotheby's in Atlanta on October 27, lot 200.
Porsche returned to America in 1984 with the 962 which is a modified version of the 956.
unsold
In 1981 Fitzpatrick creates his team, the John Fitzpatrick Racing (JFR). In the same year the FIA defines the rules of its new Group C, to be applicable from the following year. For these competitions, Porsche develops the 956, the first car of the brand with an aluminum monocoque, and benefiting from aerodynamic studies improving cornering stability by using the ground effect.
From 1982 to 1985 25 units of the 956 are built. The goal is achieved : they dominate the Group C. The third factory car is second at Le Mans in 1982 and wins in 1983. It was sold for $ 10.1M including premium by Gooding on August 15, 2015.
In 1983 a 956 is bought new by JFR. It immediately enters Le Mans and the Norisring in Nuremberg. Unfortunately the FIA and IMSA safety rules are not fully compatible and all the 956 are excluded from IMSA competitions including Daytona and Sebring.
Fitzpatrick uses a 935 for the IMSA but his 956 is still part of the trip. Driven by him it wins its first American race, the Can-Am Road America. Before returning to Europe it is ranked 3rd at another Can-Am competition in Mosport, Canada. It is the unique 956 with an American history in period.
The best achievement of this car is its victory with Fitzpatrick and Warwick at the 1000 km of Brands Hatch in September of the same year. For that competition it benefited from an extension of the ventilation system that was not yet applied to the factory cars.
Not raced after the 1984 Le Mans, this 956 remains in a very good original condition. It is estimated $ 5.25M for sale by RM Sotheby's in Atlanta on October 27, lot 200.
Porsche returned to America in 1984 with the 962 which is a modified version of the 956.
unsold
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