Kevin Estre: Porsche 963 Driver

Kevin Estre has emerged as one of the Porsche factory drivers most likely to produce a race performance peppered with demoralising pace for his opposition.

So in many ways, it was no surprise when he was named as one of the confirmed full-season drivers for the Penske Porsche factory efforts next season in the new Porsche 963.

But there was no doubt relief to finally be able to see public confirmation of the deal, and to be finally able to talk openly about it too:

How long have you known about the seat in the 963 for 2023?

“Since the end of last year? It’s been a long time waiting for this day actually because I’ve been excited for a long time but and then having everybody speaking about the car and interviews here and there, “will you be part of it and blah, blah, blah?” it’s always a tough moment when you can’t say anything.

“So I’m very, very pleased to be part of it. And to be able to be finally announced as part of it!

A new generation of racers coming into a new generation of prototypes. We have not been told yet, where you will be racing but for now let’s presume we’re going to be seeing you at Le Mans, that in itself is going to be a pretty mouthwatering proposition as we leave behind GT Pro, where you’ve been a key part, and get into an era where, if this formula delivers, it’s going to be very like GT Pro but quicker!

“Yeah, I hope so. I really hope that with all the manufacturers we see coming into this category both in the US and in WEC, I think it’s going to be a fantastic era in motorsport, I really do.

“I had the chance to live Le Mans in GTE Pro in 2018/ 19, where we were 17 Pro cars from six different manufacturers fighting for the victory, which was incredible. And with really high-level teams and drivers.

“To have this replicated in the top category, to race to win Le Mans overall is something unbelievable, I really hope that we’ll get this.

“This feeling as a driver and as a team that, if you do the best job, if you’re the best driver in the car, if the team does the best job then you win the race. This is really what we want and what we had in the GTE Pro in these years. I’m really proud, too proud and happy to be able to live in this moment of time, being in these years where I’m young enough to drive these cars and not too young not to understand the opportunity!”

I think if I were to ask people what they see in Kevin Estre, they would tell me you were blindingly quick, brave, and totally passionate. Is this a car that’s going to allow you to do all those three things?

“I think so – in the end, I think what you have as a driver, what defines you as a driver, and it doesn’t matter in which car you jump in, you will try to be as fast as you can, as passionate as you can and as aggressive as you can but not crashing the car!

“And maybe this defines me well, so I’m definitely, definitely going to do everything I can to replicate, what I learned in GT and the success I had in GT and just to put it into this category and even get better because we can always get better and learn from other drivers, and from the engineers who have something for sure, some new stuff to bring in a more complicated car, a more advanced car, and a faster car. So there’s definitely some stuff to learn.

“But I believe that as a good GT driver, you bring also quite good experience and, and maybe a different point of view, compared to the guys who have only ever raced a prototype

A very large proportion of the drivers in the car have come from the GT race programme. That’s not always been the way that it’s been done. That’s clearly very good news for you.

“When these projects started to come up, I spoke with the management at that time and said “how is it looking?” and was told – “Yeah, you know, you should be in, you’re in the list, blah, blah, blah.”

“And I said, “but my prototype experience is just one race at Le Mans, my first time there in 2015 in LMP2 (somewhat bizarrely alongside fellow Porsche LMDH signing Laurens Vanthoor!) and they said no worries, we are confident you guys will be good, you’ll be there – we saw it with Earl and with Nick at the time and now this is different generation car and the GTE is even closer to what they were before and so you’ll be fine.

“And I think this is the discussion we all got as GT drivers, we all wanted it, but we were all scared that it was gonna go somewhere else because we don’t have the experience of the LMP. But Porsche was confident in what we can do, which is very good, which I’m happy with. And I’m also quite confident in what I can do in this car.

“There’s some stuff to learn. But it was funny this year at Le Mans. I knew obviously already that I was going going to drive this car next year, and I was just thinking, Okay, where do they overtake me in this category? And how much speed? Should I shouldn’t be able to do that as well. So yeah, I think I’m, I’m ready!

Two things that the GTE Pro drivers and the GT3 drivers do have experience with, is racing cars with a Balance of Performance, and racing in packs of cars over long distances and timeframes?

“Yeah, I think this is maybe one part of what I was saying before that we can bring some stuff we learned as a GT driver and definitely pack racing, wheel to wheel banging – hopefully not too much!

“Follow close and trying to get the best out of your car to overtake the guy in front of you with very similar car performance because we had this in the past with the LMP1 but in the end, there were some diesel, some petrol and with different types of hybrid, the cars delivered performance very differently.

“So hopefully, this is going to be also close racing. I’m sure. Everything is in the recipe for close racing, so I’m sure we’ll be able to do that. And then, yeah, may the best driver and car win and, for sure, some GT experience of braking late and passing another guy might help!

As a proud French driver, we’ve got an enormous race coming up next year, Le Mans’ 100th anniversary. You will be in a car that should be capable of winning that race. Your first opportunity to contest an overall race win there. How much do you want that?

“Well, first I have to make sure that I’m in a car, which is at Le Mans because so far, there’s been no announcements on the championship squads between WEC and IMSA.

“But if it’s the case, then well, I think I would probably feel a bit the same way as in 2018 when I started the race, 70 years of Porsche in the Pink Pig, starting P2, knowing that we had a good car and for myself, as a driver never having won any major endurance races at that stage. And that’s the feeling I had, I really wanted it and it’s the time now and everything went our way and we won.

“I think this might be the feeling I have next year with maybe an extra little bit of pressure because it’s for the overall win.”