Esterson Aiming to “Break Into” Sports Car Racing in GTP Debut

Photo: Formula 2

Max Esterson said he’s hoping to use this weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans as a way to “break into” the sports car racing scene, having been given a chance to make his GTP debut with JDC-Miller Motorsports.

The 23-year-old UK-based American, who has spent the majority of his career racing in Europe, most recently in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, has joined the Minnesota-based squad for the ten-hour enduro alongside prototype veteran Neel Jani and team regular Tijmen van der Helm.

It comes on the heels of a successful two-day test at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta last month in the team’s Porsche 963 that impressed both team principal John Church and driver advisor Richard Westbrook.

For Esterson, an accomplished sim racer-turned real-world open-wheel driver, who only began his single-seater career in 2020, the New York native is now set for his sports car racing debut.

“I’ve not raced a car with a roof before, so it’s very different,” he told Sportscar365. “The last time I raced in the U.S. was my first year in cars in 2020. It’s been a long time.

“There’s not many opportunities to drive Hypercar/GTP cars if you’re not in a manufacturer program. There’s not so many customer teams.

“It was a good opportunity to do it because you don’t know when it’s going to come along again.

“JDC had an open spot, so we took it. It’s obviously going to be a tough one to jump into.”

While having experience with multi-class traffic on iRacing, Esterson has yet to fully experience it in real life, in what he expects to be his biggest challenge this weekend.

In addition to his experience on iRacing, Esterson also spent a day in Multimatic’s simulator in the UK coming to grips with the Porsche 963 in preparation for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.

With his and his teammates’ F2 seasons cut short prior to the Baku round in August, Esterson said he felt the timing was right to test the waters in a prototype, before fully evaluating a potential full-time switch to sports car racing.

“I think it’s a bit of a test,” he said. “I’m not sure. I feel like the open-wheel path is sort of closing to make a career, at least.

“It could be an option. I don’t know if Hypercar/GTP is possible, realistically, because of the budget to do a full year.

“With zero endurance experience, it’s not like I’m super hot right now. It’s hard when you don’t have experience. But there’s only one way to get experience is to actually do it.

“Initially I just have to break in to the scene and see how it goes. But I think I’ll enjoy it.”

Esterson credited JDC-Miller for giving him the opportunity, especially admitting his lack of endurance racing experience.

“One thing is testing but actually doing the race is a big help for me,” he said.

“Say I was to race next year, being pulled into it with no experience at all in the races, it’s a big advantage to do this race with relatively low risk.

“Obviously we want to do well and that’s the aim. But the championship is not on the line so I can just sort of build into it.”

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