Estre (Porsche): “We Want To Win, Not Fight To Be In The Top Three”

Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Kevin Estre feels progress has been made by the team since the FIA WEC season opener for Sebring, but stresses the Porsche 963 is still too far behind Toyota and Ferrari on pace to challenge for race wins.

The Frenchman, who along with Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor scored Porsche’s 963 its first FIA WEC podium at Portimao on Sunday, told DSC after the race that the team had worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make gains after a rather underwhelming WEC debut for the 963 in Florida. There, the Penske team’s cars finished a distant fifth and sixth, four laps off the winning Toyota. This time out Porsche was much closer to Toyota, but the #6 crew still finished off the lead lap.

“We were all very down after Sebring, it was a very tough weekend for the whole Porsche Penske motorsport group. We worked really hard between then and now to try and improve the car’s reliability and performance,” he admitted.

“I think Sebring is a very special track, the characteristics of it, with the bumps, means you have to put the car in a special window and we weren’t there. We had more degradation on the rear than our opponents and more than what we wanted.”

This weekend went far better for Porsche, with tangible progress made on both sides of the Atlantic with its new challenger.

In addition to the podium in the FIA WEC race in Portugal, the IMSA sprint race at Long Beach saw Penske score the car its first win globally. It came after a thrilling finale which saw Ricky Taylor crash the Wayne Taylor Acura at Turn 1 while trying to dive up the inside of eventual winner Mathieu Jaminet for the lead.

This milestone weekend has given the programme a boost, though Estre was keen to point out that the performance level of the 963, even in the USA, isn’t yet fully unlocked.

“(Despite the improvement in form) we proved in the USA that the performance is not where we want to be, in qualifying in both the USA and WEC, on one lap pace.

“I think we did a good job on both sides of the Atlantic on strategy, on tyre calls. Pretty much everyone made mistakes in Long Beach and here, and we were closer to everyone else which I think pushed people into mistakes.”

For the WEC programme, the question now is whether or not Porsche can take further strides without the need for a platform BoP change between the LMH and LMDh cars.

A platform BoP change is a possibility for the next race at Spa, as the FIA and ACO have made it clear that platform BoP changes, unlike targeted tweaks to individual cars (that are frozen until after Le Mans), can be made every two races.

We made a small step, but it’s not enough, we are too far from Toyota

“I think we can improve on our side,” Estre said. “We made a small step, but it’s not enough, we are too far from Toyota. There are still some steps to come. If it’s enough or not is another question.

“At the moment we are really far (back) in performance. Even if we execute the race well like today we are one or two laps down which is too much. I am not sure if this is all in our hands, we don’t have the data. We have to be confident in the FIA and ACO.

“You have to keep in mind that one Toyota had an issue, and a Ferrari had an issue. Other than that it would have been very hard to beat them. On performance, our position is more fourth and fifth rather than third. I think it’s still Toyota in front of Ferrari, and then us, which was nice because it was Cadillac after them in Sebring. We beat Cadillac today which is encouraging for us, it’s a good sign.

It must be noted though that the #6 Porsche didn’t enjoy an entirely perfect race, as the drivers battled power steering issues throughout the race which Estre said made the car tough to drive. “It didn’t have an impact on performance I think, but as drivers, we were happy to only do double stints and not a triple.”

Thankfully it wasn’t as catastrophic an issue as the #5’s power steering woes, which forced it into the garage for repairs that cost the team a huge chunk of time…

The #6 also lost time at the end of the race to an additional stop, the car forced to come in for a splash in the closing laps. Estre admitted that “there wasn’t enough fuel in the car” to make it home.

“We were luckily we spotted it early,” he added.

Images courtesy of Porsche