Estre Describes “Very Difficult” Closing Stints in No. 6 Porsche

Photo: MPS Agency

Kevin Estre said three separate incidents with LMGT3 cars in the closing hours of Saturday’s Qatar 1812km made his life “very difficult” to bring the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 to victory.

Estre and co-drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer scored a dominant win in the FIA World Endurance Championship season opener, leading a historic sweep of the podium for the German manufacturer.

It came after a relatively straightforward two-thirds of the the race for the No. 6 crew, which had a 90-plus second lead over the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 until drama struck for Estre while in traffic on multiple occasions.

“The first stint, during the day, was quite okay,” he said.

“The Peugeot and the other competitors were fast at times but sometimes we had a bit of an edge always toward the end of the stint.

“The car felt really good, so that was a very good time for us during the day.

“During the night we were not as fast probably but fast enough to keep the gap and win this race.

“There were some incidents during the last two-and-a-half hours with some contact made my life very difficult in the car and on the pit wall for everyone because there was quite a hole on the bodywork and it felt a bit like there was a hole somewhere there.”

Estre said he had contact with the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Takeshi Kimura on two occasions, along with one of the Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3s that resulted in left sidepod and floor damage to the LMDh car.

“The Lexus, to be honest, I was always scared coming around him,” said the Frenchman. “It’s always different drivers and whatever but it was a bit of a struggle.

“The last one was with a Ford Mustang. I went on the outside and I think he didn’t see me.”

When asked about the level of communication with the team after the incidents, Estre said:

“To be honest, I was not speaking much because he told me the underfloor is smashed and I was like, ‘OK I feel it but I don’t say anything. I just drive because it’s not going to change anything.’

“The car was pretty tough to drive but I could see the gap was staying constant so I was assuming we’d finish the race like this but I think we had some stuff to repair.

“When he told me box this lap, I knew there were eight or nine laps to go, I was like, ‘No, c’mon.

“But then he said straight away [it] would be a short pit stop, no worries and [everything was] all under control.”

Porsche Penske managing director Jonathan Diuguid explained that the decision was made to pit the car to stick on a left side number plate with eight laps to go after it was damaged in the contact with the Lexus.

“There was obviously ongoing discussions from the contact we had, which was unfortunate because we were controlling the race there,” Diuguid told Sportscar365.

“From our side, we had a lot of discussions on what we needed to do. Everybody’s studied up on the regulations and so we went back through and cycled on that.

“We decided that’s what we wanted to do with the amount of gap we had to the second-placed car at the time and took the time to do what we thought we needed to do.”

While not having been ordered by race control to pit, WEC sporting regulations state that cars must have visible number plates at all times.

“It’s about being proactive and just making sure we could do whatever we can,” Diuguid said.

“If you win by 50 seconds or half a second, it’s still the same, so we just wanted to make sure that we put our best foot forward.”

Estre added: “There was definitely some pure pace missing. Especially when I was following GT cars, I was really struggling.

“Just behind a GT [car], I could not steer. When I was alone, it was kind of OK, but a lot of vibrations, so I was really not confident in the car that I had to do another one-and-a-half hour like this.

“It was tough in the end but [I’m] very pleased with what we achieved. It was a huge improvement everywhere from last year from where we started.

“I’m very happy to share my first overall victory with these two guys.”

It came as a historic win for the organization and the first for a LMDh car in WEC competition.

“It’s a huge day for the program and for the Porsche 963,” Diuguid added. “Honestly it doesn’t feel real yet, so hopefully there will be some celebrating to carry on late into the night in Qatar.”

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