Porsche: “Lessons Learned” at Le Mans Ahead of Watkins Glen

Photo: Porsche

Porsche’s LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle said there were “lessons learned” from the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Porsche Penske Motorsport scored its best result yet in the French endurance classic, as the team looks to make it two wins in a row at Watkins Glen this weekend.

The No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell, which started from the rear of the Hypercar class field, finished second following a late-race charge that denied an all-Ferrari 499P podium at the time.

Porsche Penske’s other entries finished sixth and eighth following the post-race disqualification of the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari due to a technical infringement.

When asked during an IMSA-hosted pre-event media call if he’s feeling more pride with the No. 6 car result or disappointment that a potential win slipped away, Kuratle said: “Honestly, I don’t know. I can’t tell you now.”

He added: “It’s mixed emotions and yet it only like two days ago… We were early this morning in the office, and we had the first analysis of the race, and we think there’s one thing we can say for sure that yeah, we are proud of having all four, also the customer team Proton Competition in the 99 car, they also finished without any problems at all.

“And so, we had all four cars finishing the very, very demanding 24-hour race. That’s good.

“Being second is obviously not you are aiming for if you travel to Le Mans with Porsche; that’s clear to everybody, everybody will understand. There is also part of it a disappointment on the whole thing, nevertheless the No. 6 car to me, the only one at least of the top cars…

“I’m not aware of GT cars, but the No. 6 car definitely managed a great race. I don’t think there’s a perfect race. But we had no penalties. We had no mistakes. We had the fastest pit stops. And we spent the least amount of time in the pit lane.

“We spent three minutes less in the pit lane than the [winning] 83 [Ferrari], that’s a lot, but only P2.

“Is it a disappointment or are we proud? We are proud but we are also disappointed. We expected more, but it’s a lot to digest. We can also say it’s the best Le Mans race, two weeks we’ve had with the 963 program. A lot of lessons learned from last year to this.

“There are more lessons learned for now. Even so, it was not enough.”

Kuratle said it’s still early days in terms of coming to a full conclusion of the race, which saw the Ferraris largely dominate.

“We’ve had one day of analyzing, and [Tuesday] was the first day,” he said. “I’d commented on the No. 6 car, which ran the… I don’t want to call it perfect, but very good race. The Nos. 4 and 5 cars had some penalties. Some things to improve there.

“We have to stand up after this one until the next one. We have to prepare for the next Le Mans. There are still a couple races in the WEC championship to compete.

“We can analyze, same as everyone else. Go into the data and numbers. How did we lose. The pit operations? General operations? We have to see how the whole weekend went, etc., there’s a lot to analyze and lessons learned.”

Heading into the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, Kuratle said the focus is on continued success for the U.S.-based Porsche Penske crew, which has only lost one race this year and holds a commanding lead in the GTP championship.

Additionally, the No. 7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron won last year’s IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup round at The Glen.

“We won the last races here,” Kuratle said. “Except Detroit, we’ve won every race in IMSA [this year]. We’ll fight to do the same in Watkins Glen.

“Since Daytona the BoP is reacting to the success we’ve had with the 963 in IMSA races, and that’s something we have to overcome in Watkins Glen. There will be challenges for us to score the same result. Nevertheless, we are confident we’ll be competitive there.”

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