The GTE Pro championship battle at the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be free of team orders, according to Porsche.
The final round of the 2018/2019 FIA World Endurance Championship will see the decision in the GT World Drivers' Championship. The #92 pairing of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen lead stablemates Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz by 36 points with one more race to contest.
When asked about team orders at friday's press conference, Porsche's Director of GT Factory Motorsports Pascal Zurlinden replied:
"No, definitely not. We can’t do this to the fans and to our drivers. They’ve fought really hard all year to win the world championship title for the manufacturers and now, it’s their fight."
The leading pair need just four points to lock up the driver's title and are the favorites heading in. Kevin Estre has said he isn't planning to approach the race any differently with the advantage in the back of his head.
"I think the strategy in our car is quite clear: we will treat it like any other 24 hours," Estre said. "Which means you push all the time, but you still have a little bit of margin on traffic or strategy calls or rain. We don’t have to go in and think ‘we’ll try to finish ninth’, because if you do that, you’ll always make mistakes."
Team mate Christensen recognizes the pressure is on their chasing team-mates: "We know we have a great team, and a great car, and we’ve got to take advantage of that. We gotta try and put pressure on the others. We’re not under pressure, we have the points lead," Christensen told Motorsport Week.
"The others have to win Le Mans to win the championship. It could be a brilliant day for them, of course, but the pressure will be very tough. So the pressure’s on them, I think. And we’re gonna play on that. We’re not just gonna drive around, as Kevin explained earlier, we’re gonna go for the win."
Richard Lietz, who is part of the chasing pair together with Bruni, understands the challenge his team is facing.
"The race is 24 hours, so it’s gonna be hard for everyone," Lietz commented. "This year, the other manufacturers are really strong, so it’s not just between 91 and 92. We have the other strong Porsches, we have a lot of other brands that are really strong. For sure, for the championship, we need to be good. We need to win this race, which is possible, but as I said, it’s possible for everybody. It’s a hard fight between the cars.
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