Kevin Estre believes that Porsche lacks top speed at Le Mans
With two wins in three races, Porsche comes to Le Mans as the favorite. However, Kevin Estre is wary of the competition which may have a better top speed than his 963.
He continues. Just back from the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, Kevin Estre has to change his habits. The Frenchman leaves the wheel of his GT3 to driver Porsche’s number 6 Hypercar. After a few minutes of adaptation, the Tricolore quickly found his pace during the test day. He was the fastest man on the track, with a 3’26”907, which is six tenths faster than last year.
This session is not representative, and it is difficult to establish an initial hierarchy. Last year, we were behind Ferrari, Porsche, and Cadillac. This year, we set the second fastest time in the morning and the fastest in the afternoon. But we don’t know what the others have tried or how much fuel they had. It’s hard to say who is ahead or behind. In terms of top speed, Ferrari was a bit faster than us. We lack it, and it’s a bit worrying.
Kevin Estre and his team will try several settings during the first free practice session scheduled for this Wednesday, June 12th at 2 p.m. Porsche’s strength lies in having three official cars, which will help distribute the workload. A focus on qualifying will also be carried out. The Lyonnais driver should take care of this as he will be behind the wheel for the quick lap exercise. We decided on this during the winter. And I feel good.
Outsiders at the forefront?
In Le Mans, the team will try to confirm its excellent start to the season. With two wins in three races, Porsche is currently leading the championship. “We’ve had a great start to the season, we were the strongest in Qatar. We found the perfect setup. In Imola, we had the level to aim for a top 5, but not to win. Ferrari was better and Toyota, with the conditions, was slightly ahead of us. In Spa, we finished P2 with special circumstances, but Ferrari was still better,” summarizes Kevin Estre.
But the classic from Le Mans always has surprises in store. Some competitors who have so far been in the background or have hidden their game could emerge from the shadows. Like Peugeot last year, which led the race for much of this double clock round. For the moment, at Peugeot, they have not shown with their new car a real performance. Le Mans is very special, I do not know what their strength is. Alpine has shown a little more than Peugeot. Cadillac has not achieved any results, but was very fast in Spa…
