Estre Faced “Constant Oversteer” in Final Stint Without Diffuser

Kevin Estre battled with “constant oversteer” towards the end of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa after the diffuser fell off his Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Julien Andlauer finished fourth in their No. 92 Porsche after Scherer Sport PHX Audi driver Nicki Thiim kept Estre at bay in the closing stages to secure the final podium spot.

The Manthey-run Porsche was seen running without its rear-mounted diffuser, which helps to enhance downforce and aerodynamic grip, throughout the duel with Thiim, and Estre later said that it was difficult to keep the car under control.

“It was… tough,” the Frenchman told Sportscar365.

“It was proper surviving, wild mode. Really a lot of oversteer. It was a constant oversteer, but at least the diffuser was out so I knew what I had and it was the same every lap.

“It was very difficult to drive really sideways everywhere. Blanchimont and Pouhon were probably the worst.

“Eau Rouge was actually not too bad with the compression, but Blanchimont was a nightmare. I was happy to exit Blanchimont every lap.”

The diffuser came loose, Estre recalled, after contact with the No. 777 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo run by GetSpeed Performance.

The diffuser oscillated for a handful of laps, resulting in an unpredictable aerodynamic balance, before breaking free from the car. Manthey EMA then opted to push through the final stint considering it was running fourth and had a potential podium in its sights.

“The white Mercedes came out behind me on new tires,” said Estre. “We were fighting a bit and there was some sort of traffic jam in the last corner.

“He got caught behind me and pushed me. After that, I started to hear some noise and had very weird balance. I thought the tire was broken, but in the end it was the diffuser that was moving.

“During five laps it was up and down, still attached, and then it left in Pif-Paf about 15 minutes before the end of the stint. And then we did the last stint without.

“At first [the objective] was to try to keep fourth, because the team was quite surprised, myself as well, that we could still keep up a decent pace without it at the end of my double stint.”

Manthey EMA started the race from 14th on the grid and was initially strong but needed to rebound from 40 seconds’ worth of penalties, split between 10 seconds for Vanthoor causing a collision at La Source and 30 seconds for breaching track limits six times.

No. 92 Porsche remained as one of the front-runners throughout the dark hours, which is when Estre felt that car was at its strongest.

“In the night, I think our car was suited perfectly for it,” Estre reckoned.

“The Porsches are always good in the night, but with this tire and our setup, it was perfect for us.

“We were probably the quickest there, or at least very quick, but as soon as daylight came we started to lose some rear support.

“We had some tire issues, so we had to be very cautious on that, about pressures.

“The balance was there on the peak of the tire but then we started to lose the rear and it was loose pretty much all the way throughout the stint.

“Without the diffuser it was the same, but at least we had no understeer at all and no oversteer, so I knew exactly what was going on. It felt a bit like a Cup car, to be honest.

“It was really exhausting and tough, but I enjoyed the fight with Nicki.”