Estre: DTM Regulars ‘Might Have The Edge’ at Macau

Kevin Estre reckons DTM regulars taking part in the FIA GT World Cup at Macau could enjoy a competitive advantage due to their experience with the Pirelli tire in a sprint weekend format.

Out of a stacked, 21-car grid for the event held at the Guia street circuit, three drivers competed and took race victories this season in the German GT3 sprint championship.

They include newly crowned champion Thomas Preining, piloting a HubAuto Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, Team WRT’s Sheldon van der Linde and 2014 World Cup winner Maro Engel aboard a Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Because overtaking is notoriously difficult on the 3.803-mile circuit, Estre believes qualifying will be extra important, thus handing the DTM drivers a potential advantage.

“Macau is all about getting this quali lap, which is very definitely different than when you do an endurance race with the GT3 R, which I always do,” he told Sportscar365.

“That’s where I think DTM guys might have an edge on us, because they drive this tire the whole year. They did 15 qualis this year with this tire, knowing how it comes and everything.

“It’s quite a different mindset to what we do here. We have the experience of maybe the faster car or more downforce, whatever, which can maybe help there. Porsche is confident in us to bring us there.

“It’s a sprint race, [the] first sprint race since a very long time for me. Which is also very different, very fun, I think. And a GT3 which we don’t tend to drive very often compared to Engel, Preining, Marciello.

“I drove [Road] Atlanta, but it’s a Michelin, it’s an endurance race.  Very different. Last time I drove Pirelli was Spa. Let’s say where my confidence is not too bad is that at Spa I was on pace.”

While all of Porsche’s cars are entered by local teams, the German manufacturer is bringing in engineering support from Europe to boost its chances.

For example, Chinese squad Toro Racing, which fields a Porsche for 2016 winner Laurens Vanthoor, will be boosted by personnel from Manthey, including Thomas Preining’s championship-winning engineer from DTM.

“That was one thing we agreed on, because it’s such a short event with short practice,” said Vanthoor.

“If you’re not fully sorted when FP1 goes green, the weekend’s over. Because it’s all about qualifying, and you know, the entry list this year is insane.

“So with all due respect, to have any chance of winning, you need to have somebody running the car who knows the car inside out and has a lot of experience.

“If not, with the competition which is there, it’s difficult to fight. So yeah, I think we should be pretty well sorted.”

Macau Prompting “Mini Bamthor-Return”

Earl Bamber, who will also be piloting a 911 GT3 R at the event, revealed that he and former IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship co-driver Vanthoor are working together on data sharing in what the Kiwi called a “mini Bamthor-return.”

“We’ve got some good data from the past, but it’s going to be a little bit of a throw,” Bamber told Sportscar365.

“I think all teams will work together quite well with the data exchange and the fastest lap exchange to be able to get the most from each other.

“I’m sort of working together a bit with Laurens. So I think that should work, push each other along to get up the front.”

Additionally, Bamber indicated that Earl Bamber Motorsport personnel recently traveled to Toro Racing’s headquarters in China to aid with event preparation.

“I had some of my guys prepare his car the other day,” Bamber said. “We flew them to China. We just supply a couple of guys.”

John Dagys contributed to this report