Estre: Absolute Porsche Has ‘Lineup to Win’ at Suzuka

Kevin Estre believes the Absolute Racing Porsche squad has a driver lineup capable of winning this week’s Suzuka 1000km, as he and Laurens Vanthoor prepare for their return to the Japanese track for the revived Intercontinental GT Challenge fixture.

Fresh off their FIA World Endurance Championship victory at the Circuit of The Americas, factory Porsche stars Estre and Vanthoor will join Absolute regular Patrick Pilet aboard the Hong Kong team’s NewMan-liveried No. 7 Porsche 911 GT3 R at Suzuka.

Estre and Vanthoor are both making their return to Suzuka for the first time since the first running of the 10 Hours in 2018, when they shared a previous 991-generation GT3 R operated by Craft-Bamboo Racing together with Mathieu Jaminet, finishing 11th.

Pilet meanwhile has more recent experience of the figure-of-eight track, having participated in the 2023 GTWC Asia round for R&B Racing (now Origine Motorsport).

Estre told Sportscar365: “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s one of the best tracks in the world, for sure very difficult on tires.

“I have quite good memories of the track but bad memories of the heat and how hard it was back then with the tire degradation! But obviously it’s a different car, we have air conditioning in the car now, and the tire deg will not be as bad.

“There are a lot of unknowns for us, but Absolute is an Asian team and they know the place really well, so we are expecting them to have a good baseline on the car.

“I think we have the lineup, the team. It’s too early to know how competitive the Porsche will be, but on paper we can win the race.”

For his part, Vanthoor told Sportscar365 that he doesn’t expect too many problems with getting back up to speed at Suzuka after a seven-year absence, despite a relatively limited amount of practice time to get up to speed.

The Belgian driver already has a victory to his name in the 911 GT3 R this year, which came in a one-off outing for AO Racing at the Long Beach round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“It’s obviously a very nice track, and it’s cool to go there,” said Vanthoor. “It’s a nice experience as a driver to do these kind of races and hopefully we can get a result.

“Of course I am driving with Kevin all year and we get along very well with Patrick, who drives for the team full-time in Asia, so everything seems to be in place for a good result.

“I think it will be ok. Compared to guys who drive on that tire all the time, in qualifying it will be difficult to beat them.

“But I have tended to adapt pretty quickly to the ‘R’, even last week I was in the Cup car [for the 24 Hours of Zolder], so I don’t think it will be an issue.”

Vanthoor also expressed his excitement at wearing the NewMan colors made famous by the Joest Racing Porsche 956s that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1984 and ’85.

“Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific has made a big effort with the liveries, which is pretty cool,” he said. “We even made special helmets and everything.

“I think over the past six or so years I’ve driven almost all the classic liveries, maybe all of them except Rothmans, and I have a small replica of each car in my trophy room at home, so it’s nice to tick this one off too.”