Estre back to where it all began at Spa

The WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will always hold a special place in Kevin Estre’s heart, for it was the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship two years ago that marked the beginning of his career with Porsche.

With the German manufacturer introducing a third LMP1 car at Spa for Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Formula 1 ace Nico Hulkenberg, and factory drivers Michael Christensen and Patrick Pilet being busy racing at Laguna Seca in the USA, Porsche turned to Estre to fill the breach.

The Frenchman was a McLaren factory driver at the time, but already had past links with Porsche as the Carrera Cup Germany champion of 2013 and French Carrera Cup champion in 2011.

Estre and fellow debutant Sven Mueller finished that race in 2015 in an excellent third place, which went some way to convincing the marque to sign him at the end of the season.

Michael Christensen (left) and Kevin Estre (No.92 Porsche 911 RSR)

Still only 28, Estre is now in his first full season of WEC and excited to be back where it all began at Spa, as a permanent member of the factory team in LMGTE Pro.

“It was entering at a really high level; when you drive GT3 it’s already high professional, but when you come to Porsche as a factory driver in WEC it’s another step again,” said Estre.

“I never drove the RSR before and we had rain in practice, so I did five laps before qualifying in the dry.  That’s why it was quite a surprise that we managed to finish third. But, in the end, we had a good car, a good feeling with the engineer, and I think that’s why we could achieve a good performance.

“Porsche was happy with me, they were searching for drivers so they offered me something and when you get an offer from Porsche to be a factory driver, you don’t think about it too much! That’s how it all started.  I’m happy to do the WEC and see how the whole championship is, because so far I’ve just done Spa, COTA and Le Mans.”

With a proper testing schedule underneath him, setting quick times in the Prologue at Monza, Estre is confident that the new mid/rear-engined Porsche 911 RSR will prove a competitive package against the other manufacturers, despite an engine problem forcing his retirement from the opening round at Silverstone.

“Now the environment is completely different, we have a new car and we’ve tested quite a bit,” he said.  “You still feel like you’re in a Porsche, but for sure the driving style has to be a bit different and the engineer has to think a bit differently when you set up the car.

“That brought for sure some challenges to everybody, but the car was nice right away when we put it out on track and although there is every time room to improve, we were all happy with the way you have to drive the car from scratch and from there we worked hard to get even better.”