Estre Hails Porsche 963 Package at Fuji as “Best It’s Been”

Kevin Estre felt that the No. 6 Porsche 963 that he and his co-drivers steered to third place at the 6 Hours of Fuji was the best the car has been in the FIA World Endurance Championship so far.

Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer claimed their second podium of the season on Sunday after leading for two-thirds of the race, in Porsche’s most competitive Hypercar performance from six races.

Vanthoor seized an early lead at the first corner and remained there until the end of his double stint, as the recovering Toyota GR010 Hybrids that started on the front row worked their way past the two Ferrari 499Ps.

Estre continued Vanthoor’s good work and led through halfway, before relinquishing the position to Ryo Hirakawa who planted the No. 8 Toyota down the inside at Turn 10.

The No. 7 Toyota then moved ahead during the following pit cycle before going on to cement a one-two result for the Japanese manufacturer on home soil, although the Porsche Penske crew remained upbeat about its day.

“It’s a proper P3,” said Estre, comparing it to his lineup’s podium at 6 Hours of Portimao where several Hypercars encountered issues.

“We were leading for four hours, which was quite amazing. It was a big difference to every race we’ve done so far.

“I’m very pleased with that. We had the pace. We did no mistakes apart from probably the start, there was a hiccup there with [not putting enough fuel in before the start].

“Toyota had the pace on us on a clean track and in clean air they were faster. When they came up to us, they spent one-and-a-half hours behind us. I was happy I could keep them behind and really tried to not do a mistake and tried to stay clean, which I did.

“The car was definitely the best it’s been so far this season. It’s not perfect but it’s the best it’s been.

“In WEC we haven’t tested a lot lately but the U.S. [Porsche Penske team] has tested a lot and I think we understand the car a bit better.

“And I think for here, the engineers worked really hard to analyze all the races and try to do a setup which fits this track. We did well.”

Expanding on why the No. 6 Porsche was a much-improved package on its Fuji debut, Estre identified the straight-line braking and traction out of corners as key points.

“I think now, nobody made a flat spot, nobody locked the wheel, everybody was on the line,” he said.

“[The Toyotas] never passed us on big braking, other than Turn 10. This was definitely good. I think our traction was better than ever. These were the two points.

“Then we did a great job on strategy. We had the right tire. I think also this helped because when Toyota went on the same tire as us, I think that’s when they pulled away.

“Apart from the starting energy, we did a better job than them because they took the same tire as us and then they made it fast.”

The No. 6 Porsche started on medium slick tires all around and used them throughout, whereas the Toyotas had hards on the left before transitioning to mediums.

Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid said: “Our engineering group selected the right tires, where Ferrari was on the hards and Toyota had some hards on their cars too.

“Once they had already figured that out, the true pace of the cars took over.”

Porsche Now Feels “In the Fight” for Hypercar

Diuguid felt that the 6 Hours of Fuji demonstrated the Mannheim-based WEC arm of Porsche Penske Motorsport has now brought itself into the fight in Hypercar.

He identified progress in understanding different areas of the car, such as tire management, mechanical setup and software, as factors behind the step forward.

Diuguid also reckoned the No. 6 Porsche was fast enough to have finished second, although that hope unraveled once Lotterer emerged from his car’s fourth pit stop just behind Kamui Kobayashi.

“I think we lost track position in that pit cycle,” he recalled.

“When we were able to be in front, we could hold them off. When we lost the track position, we knew that once they were in front of us, they probably had the pace to keep us there.

“I think P2 is probably our potential today. Everything went smoothly.

“We’ve made a decent step in performance, and we feel like we’re in the fight now. We have our opportunities to have days like today.”