One of the most successful Porsche 935s will return to Daytona International Speedway for the Classic 24 at Daytona, when Danny Sullivan, Zak Brown and Richard Dean co-drive the No. 18 Porsche 935 JLP-3.

Driven by John Paul Jr. and Sr., that was the first car to double up in the Florida endurance classics, when it won both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida in 1982.

While he was entered but did not compete at Daytona in 1981 after his father’s Porsche JLP-2 expired two hours into the event, John Paul Jr. raced in his first Rolex 24 in 1982. Joining the father-son team was Rolf Stommelen, who was seeking to join Pedro Rodriguez, Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood as the lone four-time overall winners of the event.

Somewhat awed by the competition, Paul Jr. turned to his new teammate.

“Before the race I asked Rolf, ‘Who’s the team to beat here?’ He answered, ‘We are.’

“He was incredibly cocky, but he was very good,” Paul said of Stommelen.

The 1982 event was the beginning of the challenge to the domination of the Porsche 935, which had won the past four runnings of the Daytona classic. The year saw the introduction of the IMSA Camel GTP class, with GTP including the new Lola T600 and March 82G, along with exotic Porsche 935 variations which formerly were scored in the GTX class.

Defending race winner Bobby Rahal won the pole in Jim Trueman’s new Red Roof Inns Chevrolet-powered March. The Pauls qualified fifth.

Danny Ongais and Hurley Haywood took turns in the lead early in the race. The JLP Porsche went to the front on the 60th lap – two hours into the event – and led the rest of the way. Haywood pressured Stommelen into the evening into the Bayside Disposal Porsche 935 he shared with Al Holbert, but a transmission mounting failure at 1:30 a.m. dropped the car out of contention.

The JLP Porsche cruised to victory, with its lone problem a cut tire resulting from Paul Jr. running over a bottle early on Sunday morning.

“We had absolutely no problems at all,” Paul Jr. said. “We never added oil to it, never even opened the hood.”

The trio won by 11 laps, averaging a record 114.794 mph.

Seven weeks later, the team had a tougher challenge at Sebring, but the same result for Paul Sr. and Jr. The No. 18 Porsche led the final five hours, with the Rahal/Trueman March finishing second, on the same lap.

Paul Jr. went on to win the Camel GT championship, capping the career of JLP-3. Since its debut midway through the 1981 season, that car won nine of 26 races, including 16 podium finishes. It had a five-race winning streak that began at Pocono in September 1981 through Daytona and Sebring, with the streak ending at Road Atlanta in April of 1982.

The Classic 24 features six period-correct run groups rotating through a full 24 hours of racing on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course. The run groups, which include various classes of similar-era race cars, each take to the track four times throughout the 24 hours. The competitors in each class covering the most total distance in their group’s four one-hour sessions will be crowned Classic 24 at Daytona champions.

The Porsche 935 JLP is one of three classic cars Brown’s United Autosports is bringing to Daytona. It will also bring the No. 16 Porsche 962 driven to several major IMSA GTP victories by Dyson Racing, and the No. 11 1985 Ford Mustang Cobra campaigned by Roush/Protofab in IMSA GTO competition.