Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre earned their first podium finish of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season in this past Sunday's 6 Hours of Fuji, and the Dane believes the success was down to Porsche's execution during the race.
The reigning champions started from the back of the grid in GTE Pro, but came through to take second place behind the #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen. As a result, Christensen and Estre now lead the championship in class, after also taking second place at Silverstone.
“When you start from the last grid spot and cross the finish line in second, then you’ve definitely done everything right," Christensen said. "Our strategy worked perfectly, we got the absolute maximum out of it.
Thanks to this podium result, Kévin and I are now leading the world championship. We’re certainly can’t complain about that.”
The result means that the 2018 Le Mans winners now are precisely one point ahead of Thiim and Sorensen, who took their first win in nearly a year.
Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz, who won the season opener at Silverstone in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19, sit in third with one point less than the Aston Martin duo. Bruni and Lietz had started from pole, but finished last in class due to issues and penalties.
“After our bad luck in qualifying we started with one set of tyres less than all the other cars," added Kevin Estre. "We made up for this disadvantage with a perfect strategy and flawless work in the cockpit.
After finishing in second place twice in a row we’re now at the top of the championship standings. Like last year, we’d like to retain this position until the end of the season.”
The FIA World Endurance Championship continues with the 4 Hours of Shanghai in November.
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