Diuguid: Rain “Great Equalizer” in Porsche Penske’s COTA Win

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid hailed the rain-soaked Lone Star Le Mans as the “great equalizer” for Porsche Penske Motorsport, which broke through to claim its first victory of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

The No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell took the win in Sunday’s chaotic race that featured six safety car periods, a red flag and multiple incidents, which played into the team’s favor, particularly in the second half of the race.

Estre took over the lead with a move around the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi on a restart with 1 hour and 45 minutes to go and never relinquished the lead, cruising to a 8.625-second win over the No. 50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina while in drying conditions.

It marked only the No. 6 Porsche’s second podium finish of the season following their runner-up result in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for defending world driver champions Estre and Vanthoor.

“It’s been a challenging season so far but rain can be the great equalizer and that’s what we saw today,” said Duiguid. “The execution by the drivers and pit crew on the timing stand put them in position to do what they do best.

“Once Kevin got out front, I was pretty confident, to be honest, because when he gets in those positions he executes every day.

“Matt and Larry kept the car up front all day as well too. It’s all about seizing the opportunities when they come and that’s what we were able to do today.”

With Circuit of The Americas drying out in the final hour, Diuguid said they made the right calls in terms of keeping Estre on wet-weather tires during his final pit stop with 13 minutes to go.

“I can say thanks to some of our competitors because they tried it out for us and we could see the actual data,” he said.

“We considered using Car 5 to put slicks on to as well but I think the No. 7 Toyota had four or five laps where we could see the cold warmup time and just chose to do the last seven or eight laps on the wets we had there.

“We also had the advantage to stop one lap later than our direct competitors, so we could see the decisions they made.

“At that point it was relatively easy to make the right one and just bring it home to the finish.”

Once the Frenchman got past the No. 51 Ferrari of Pier Guidi, which resulted in slight side-to-side contact but no penalty from race control, Estre credited the car’s pace in the wet.

“I pulled away,” he said. “The car was amazing on the wets in this stage. There was no aquaplaning anymore and I think the conditions were really good.

“Then there was a safety car and a restart and another safety car. So always the gap that we had went to zero.

“Towards the end the Ferrari was very strong when the track was drying and obviously it was a matter of pitting when to put slicks on or not and it took a really long time to dry.

“There was a lot of communication between me and the pit stand plus the other drivers watching the on-board and looking at what’s going on and analyzing also the other cars that tried on slicks earlier.

“It was difficult but I was fully confident that the guys would make the right choice with all the input we could give.

“But the last laps was tough with the GTs because they were really fast.

“I guess they were on slicks, but it was very tough to pass them. You could not see much with the sunset and the dust on the screen.

“It was challenging but I’m really proud of what we achieved again.

“I think Car 6 is really, really strong for a few years and we keep showing it and I’m really proud to be a part of this group.”

Vanthoor added: “It was quite unexpected, to be honest, coming into the weekend. But I think it shows that whenever things get challenging and difficult, and it was wet obviously, we at PPM and Car 6 are able to execute a good race, not make any mistakes and end up here.

“I’m happy to have ticked off that box with a victory this year.

“It was a very difficult race but we all, from the pit stand to the management to the drivers, didn’t make any mistakes and that was the key.”

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