Diuguid Believes IMSA’s Trying to Make “An Example” Out of Estre

Photo: Porsche

Kevin Estre’s sanction following last month’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America, which has placed the Frenchman on probation for the remainder of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, was “harsh” according to Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid, who believes the sanctioning body is trying to use him as “an example.”

Estre and the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken were battling for second in the six-hour Michelin Endurance Cup contest when the two GTP cars crashed out in the closing moments of the contest.

IMSA later handed a post-race time penalty to the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 that Estre shared with Laurens Vanthoor, plus placed him on probation for the next two races.

It came amid a re-tightening of the officiating process by the sanctioning body, which was further clarified in the run up to the Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.

Race director Beaux Barfield later revealed to selected media that Estre will be on an “extremely short leash” for the final two races and could even be parked mid-race should he run afoul of the rules again.

“We’ve been involved in active discussions with IMSA throughout the entire process,” Diuguid told reporters during a recent Porsche-hosted media call.

“The one thing, speaking with Kevin, he’s a Porsche factory driver and a PPM driver and is extremely experienced but he’s also a fierce competitor.

“I think in all these cases, the one thing we all have to remember is that through the course of the entire season, Kevin hasn’t been involved in any incident responsibilities or any other penalty for that matter until the incident we had at the end of Road America.

“It’s not like it’s a track record of issues and things like that.

“Is the penalty harsh? Yes, it’s harsh. I think to a certain degree, IMSA is trying to make an example, which is their right to do. But again, we’re in the racing business and our focus is to control what we can control.

“It’s IMSA’s responsibility to manage the championship and they have some goals there too as well.”

Diuguid, however, pointed out that he doesn’t think the Frenchman or the Roger Penske-owned operation were specifically targeted.

“The facts are that the PPM cars have raced extremely clean throughout the season,” he said.

“A mistake was made or an incident was made that was a significant one that none of us wanted to happen and it obviously impacted Kevin and his driving crew in the 6 car and we made some decisions on the back of it.

“I don’t think it was targeted at Porsche or targeted at Kevin or targeted at anybody specifically. I think it’s a prerogative that IMSA has and they want to deliver a message.

“We’ve been in open communication with them and the communication is going to continue on-site with IMSA at Indy as well, with Beaux [Barfield, race director] and others.

“We understand the expectation and we understand how to move forward and that’s what our focus is going to be.”

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