Estimate: €1,600,000 - €2,200,000 / £1,400,000 - £1,900,000
The 2L Prototype Class Winner at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours
Chassis no. 906-017
Engine no. (see text)
• The second officially known 906
• Used as a development car by Porsche during winter 1965
• Used at unveil of the 906 to the journalist in January 1966
• Driven to 6th overall by Herbert Linge and Hans Hermann at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours
• Factory test car for the Targa Florio and Monza 1000 km 1966
• Comprehensively restored from the chassis by Freisinger-Motorsport between 2008 and 2013
• Coming from one of the biggest car collections in France
• Registered in Germany for road use
The Porsche 906 was produced for the 1966 season of the World Sportscar Championship. It was designed to meet the requirements of the FIA's new Group 4 regulations, while modified variants of the model – using larger engines or cut-down Spyder bodywork – could be accepted for Group 6 Sports-Prototype competition.
The 906 became the last street-legal racing car to be produced by Porsche. It replaced the steel pontoon-chassis Type 904 model and was the first substantial product of Technical Director Ferdinand Piech's new design regime at the Zuffenhausen factory. Where the complicated and costly Porsche 904 had derived structural rigidity from its bonded-on moulded fiberglass bodywork, the new 906 featured a racing-bred multi-tubular spaceframe chassis, clothed by unstressed moulded fiberglass body panelling.
As a result, the initial batch of 50 Porsche 906 – or Carrera 6 – Coupe cars that then emerged offered competitive light weight - some 1,300 lb (580 kg) which represented a weight saving of around 250 lb (113 kg) compared to the similarly-powered 904/6. The Porsche 901/20 6-cylinder lightweight racing engine was standard equipment, offering 220bhp on carburettors. A handful of factory-entered works cars were alternatively powered either by fuel-injected versions of the 6-cylinder engine or, were adapted to accept flat-8 cylinder power units, all – of course – air cooled.
The Carrera 6 model was notable for its external envelope shape dictated by extensive wind tunnel testing. This research and development work endowed the model with a top speed as high as 170mph (280km/h) at Le Mans, which for a 2-liter car was immensely respectable.
The new cars made their international racing debut in the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours, one example finishing 6th overall. Its drivers on that occasion were Hans Herrmann and Herbert Linge, and at the subsequent 12 Hours of Sebring, Herrmann won the category again in a new Carrera 6, co-driving it this time with Gerhard Mitter and Joe Buzzetta, and finishing fourth overall.
The Monza 1,000kms also saw 906s dominate the 2-liter class, this time with Herrmann and Mitter in a works entry leading home the private customer version of Charles Vogele/Jo Siffert, these two cars placing fourth and fifth overall behind the victorious Ferrari 330P3 and a pair of Ford GT40s.
The Targa Florio in Sicily was the next World Championship race that year, and there the Carrera 6 won outright, Willy Mairesse and Herbert Muller co-driving the Swiss Ecurie Filipinetti-entered car. The Dutch racing brothers, Gijs and David van Lennep, then won the Sports 2-liter class in the less-prominent Spa 1,000kms – co-driving their bright orange-liveried Racing Team Holland Porsche 906 - and in the ADAC 1,000kms at the Nürburgring the Dutch pairing won again, from Swedish private owner Sten Axelsson and Bo Johansson in the former's sister car.
The 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans then saw works-entered prototype category Porsche 906LE Coupes finishing 4-5-6-7 behind the leading trio of 7-liter-engined Ford GT Mark IIs, outlasting all of the previously dominant V12-engined sports-prototype Ferraris, while the 2-liter Sports class was again dominated by a standard 906 – co-driven in this instance by Gunther Klass and Rolf Stommelen.
Completing that memorable season of endurance racing achievement, the Hockenheim 500kms was utterly dominated by Porsche 906s, which filled the first six places – works drivers Mitter, Klass and Herrmann placing 1-2-3 in the factory-entered 906LE variants, while Udo Schutz, Gerhard Koch and Andre Wicky showed how well competent private owners could do in their customer cars by chasing the works stars home to fill 4th, 5th and 6th places.
The Austrian 500kms event at Zeltweg then saw Gerhard Mitter with Hans Herrmann and Jo Siffert (driving solo) finishing 1-2 for Porsche System Engineering, with the Scuderia Lufhansa-entered sister 906 of Udo Schutz and Herbert Linge finishing third for another complete 'Carrera 6' whitewash.
Into 1967 the Carrera 6s continued to be campaigned by prominent private entrants and drivers, while the Ferdinand Piech-directed Porsche factory team moved on to introduce their much more specialized and larger-engined Typ 907 models, culminating in the Typ 908 flat-8 cylinder replacement for 1968-69. All of this, of course, led directly to the immortal Porsche 917 – towards which the 906 (as offered here) was a crucial stepping stone.
Chassis 906-017 was the second 906 built, after 906-016, and was used for development as well as for the car's homologation during the winter of 1965. It was later, at the parent factory in Zuffenhausen, that it was presented to the press by Huschke von Hanstein, head of Porsche's racing department, and by the drivers Gerard Mitter and Hans Hermann. There are many photos of this presentation, and chassis 017 is easily recognisable with its specific shade of blue. A few weeks later, the 906-017 was lined up under number 15 on the start line of the Daytona 24 Hours on 5th and 6th February 1966. With Hans Hermann and Herbert Linge at the wheel, in qualifying it came in 18th of the 60 timed cars, with a time of 2:07.6, in front of the other two factory Porsches, two 904 GTSs. During the race, faced with an armada of Ferrari 250 LMs and other Ford GT40s, and despite a much smaller engine capacity, the excellent reliability of the three factory Porsches allowed them to move up the classification, taking the 6th, 7th and 8th places overall, but above all, two wins in their class with the 906, number 15, in Prototype 2L and the 904, number 16, in Sport 2L. With around 3,800 km on the clock and an average speed of 160 km/h, thus began the 906's adventure, with a first race and a first win, before so many others. As Porsche's press release noted, Triumph der Kleinen (a win for the small). Suffice to say, the 50 client models of the 906 would very quickly find homes, even leading the carmaker to extend the production run to 65 chassis.
After scraping a victory, the 906-017 returned to the factory in preparation for the Targa Florio, and the 1,000 km of Monza. It was thus that, on 25th March 1966, the blue prototype took part in the Targa Florio trials, covering 576 kilometres in the hands of various official drivers, Jo Bonnier, Hans Hermann, Gerard Mitter, Dieter Glemser, Vincenzo Arena and Antonio Pucci. A photo of these trials remains, where the 906-017 appears with the number plate S-XE 38, with Jo Bonnier at its wheel.
Having returned to the factory to be fitted with a new gearbox, the 906-017 was in Monza on 20th April 1966 for practice prior to the 1,000 Kilometres on 25th April. It clocked up 425 kilometres in tests, contributing somewhat to the class win and overall 4th place of the 906-128, driven by Mitter and Hermann.
Just a few days later, on 28th April, 017 was back on the road in Sicily to undertake another 1,000 km in tests for the Targa Florio, which took place on 8th May 1966, and which saw chassis 128 triumph again in the hands of Willy Mairesse and Herbert Müller.
At the end of chassis 017's "factory" career, it was handed over to Porsche's used car service, along with chassis 142, 143, 155 and 016. Chassis 017 is described there as having been sold without an engine, but with a gearbox. It is also noted in Porsche's archives from 1st September 1966 that a transverse tube had broken underneath the gearbox, and that the coachwork was damaged. The car then had around 5,000 km on the odometer.
It would then be sold in Mexico to an unknown owner, before it was acquired by Jim Tidwell of La Mesa, California, during the 1970s. The latter had owned, among others, the 904-012, formerly belonging to Robert Redford, sold by Bonhams in 2022. Jim Tidwell then sold the 906-017 to collector Kerry Morse, known for having one of the marque's finest prototypes in his collection. There are photos of chassis 906-017 while it was in his possession, and they can be found in the car's file. In 2008, Manfred Freisinger acquired 017 and imported it to Germany to put it through a comprehensive restoration from the bare chassis. It was thus between 2008 and 2011 that the 906 was returned to its 1966 24 Hours of Daytona configuration, with the whole process detailed in numerous photos, available in the file. A specialist in the field, Freisinger Motorsport carried out a high-quality restoration. At this time, the car was fitted with engine 906-013 and gearbox 906-040. On 1st June 2011, 906-017 obtained its historic technical passport from the DMSB, in the FIA TSRC16 class.
It was then sold by Claudio Roddaro, in 2013, to German collector Rolf Richter. The latter had the car overhauled at Porsche in Stuttgart before registering it in Germany under the number GS R906. He then used it for historic events, and notably at Rossfeldrennen 2014 and 2015. He parted ways with it in 2017, entrusting it to a French Porsche collector and gentleman driver.
Acquired in 2023 by its current French owner, 906-017 has since been exhibited in an exceptional automobile collection.
Today, 906-017 retains the same visual configuration that it had at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours. A sign of a high-quality restoration: although it has been used since the work dating back around 15 years, it only has a few cosmetic faults, notably a crack in the corner of the plexiglas of the driver's-side door. An interesting detail is that its bonnet is signed by its two drivers of years gone by, Herbert Linger and Hans Hermann.
It should be noted that since the restoration, and doubtless to improve ease of use and reliability, the Type 901/20 elektron engine casings fitted by Freisinger Motorsport have been replaced by aluminium casings of type 901.101.102.OR, while the internal casings and accessories have been left untouched. In fact, a Porsche service in 2014, noted that the engine seals were faulty. The casing is not stamped in the usual spot, only the letter E is visible on the upper part of the engine. The fuel supply is handled by two triple-barrel Weber 46 IDA 3C carburettors, while the ignition is transmitted to twin spark plugs for each cylinder, in line with the original specifications of the 906. The gearbox bears casting number 90630110103.
This Porsche 906-017 constitutes one of the most important chassis of the 906 series, one of the first two development prototypes, holder of the model's first class win, and today restored in the colours of this success. Eligible for both the Tour Auto and Le Mans Classic, this 906 will need a mechanical overhaul before returning to the circuit, having been used very little in recent years. Accompanied by various expert reports, its historic technical passport from 2011, copies of Porsche archives from the time attesting to the different events in which the car took part, its file of restoration photos, as well as its original German registration document, this 906, in addition to its historical interest, represents an excellent opportunity to participate in outstanding global events.
Please note there is restricted bidding on this lot which requires enhanced bid verification checks. Please contact us at paris@bonhams.com or call +33 1 42 61 10 10 as soon as possible if you are planning to bid on this lot to prevent any last-minute delays.
The Zoute Sale
12 October 2025, 13:00 CEST
Knokke-Heist, Le Zoute
