Estre, Vanthoor: Crossover Beneficial for Porsche Penske

Photo: Porsche

FIA World Endurance Championship co-drivers Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor view their expanded partnership as teammates for the Rolex 24 at Daytona as a benefit for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s global efforts.

Estre and Vanthoor, who share a Porsche 963 in the WEC with Andre Lotterer, have teamed up alongside the full-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pairing of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet for this weekend’s Florida endurance classic, effectively merging the two driving crews together.

It’s created a unique opportunity for the drivers to not only take knowledge from Porsche Penske’s Mannheim, Germany-based WEC operation but also share the lessons learned from the WeatherTech Championship program back to the globe-trotting series.

“I think we have a way of working in WEC that’s sometimes different to here,” Estre told Sportscar365.

“We do things different, and obviously Laurens and myself know each other very well from the past and especially now after spending one season completely together.

“We know exactly what the other needs and maybe it might help with setting up the car or something.

“One driver might skip the session or if it fits better and just 100 percent trust what the other says because we know each other well that it’s going to work.

“There’s no question mark on the feedback or the way of working.”

Vanthoor had his first experience working with the Charlotte-based Porsche Penske WeatherTech Championship operation at last year’s Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, also in the No. 6 car.

“I already noticed this from [Road] Atlanta, the team noticed it as well, there’s a difference between the teams working together, but also the drivers going from one program to the other,” he told Sportscar365.

“There were some things that I felt like, ‘This we do in WEC, it might be useful to do it here.’ But also the other way around, which I was able to lets-say, ‘bring back’ to the next WEC round.

“Even for this year, this year some drivers across the program are here to make that better because we have the luxury of doing this on the two sides. I think it’s very valuable.”

The Belgian noted the similarities between the WeatherTech Championship and WEC technical regulations that makes the crossover possible.

“It’s 99 percent the same car and same tires,” Vanthoor said. “For sure, I don’t know what in what detail but you learn [a lot].

“These cars are so complicated and there’s so many different ways of making it work, setting it up, that you learn every time.

“I have a notebook for myself where I write down notes from every race weekend. You literally learn something new every time you go out.”

While it has resulted in the first time Porsche Penske has operated with four-driver lineups, Estre believes the bond he and Vanthoor already share will play into their benefit.

“Leading into the race it’s more of a challenge,” he said of the four-driver lineup. “If you think about yourself personally, you’re not going to drive a lot. No driver will drive a lot because there’s not so much time.

“Overall for the car, everybody is more rested during the race. During the race we’ll definitely have enough laps, even if you’re four drivers.

“It brings another point of view and another approach of what we can do to build up the race.

“It’s not a disadvantage but definitely during the Roar and the testing, it’s some sort of disadvantage compared to having three drivers.

“But it’s Daytona, we know this track all very well. We’ve been testing here in December and I think we’re going to be OK but definitely not a crazy amount of laps for the days before the race.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John