Kevin Estre said the pressure was on for him to capture pole position during the Eight Hours of Bahrain after he had his first lap deleted due to a track limit infringement.
Estre took pole position on Friday night with a best time of 01:56:041 in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19. It marked the Frenchman’s fifth pole out of six races, only having failed to take pole at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Porsche factory driver later admitted that he had to work hard to prevent title rival James Calado from taking pole position after his first lap was taken away after he had his time deleted for going off the track.
“My first lap was not fantastic, and then I got a track limits infringement, which my engineer told me at the beginning of the second lap,” Estre said.
“So I knew starting the second lap, which is already a little compromised on the tire, I had to make it count, because lap three is definitely not not good.
“This is quite high pressure, but I made it all good. I drove better than the first lap, and the tires held on so I could actually improve my lap time. It was good enough for pole which is a very important point for us.”
“Now we are equal with the 51 Ferrari. At least we start the race in the same place tomorrow and I guess it will be the one who finishes in front of the other [that wins the title].”
Estre and Neel Jani are now exactly level with the #51 AF Corse pairing of Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi with only Saturday’s eight-hour contest remaining. Estre expects a close title fight, even amidst Ferrari’s ongoing BOP struggle.
“To be honest, I think it will be close,” Estre continued. “Somehow two, three days break seems to have helped Ferrari a lot because they gained a lot of time compared to last qualifying.”
“God knows what what they will do tomorrow on the pace, it’s difficult to know. We’ll give it all like always and then we’ll see where we are. I think we have a great race car, we were constant and very good in the practice.
“They’re definitely hard opponents. We have to count on them and I hope for a fair fight.”
Bahrain International Circuit is a track that is still hard on tyres, even during the eight-hour race, which will largely take place under the cover of darkness. With the second cars for each respective manufacturers a factor in the race, Estre expects strategy to play an important role in the race.
“This track is very hard on tires so the undercut is very powerful,” he said. “For sure the second car on each team can try something and try to mix up the game a bit and make us react. “This is going to be an interesting one.”
“The manufacturers’ [championship] is still open and we need to get in front of the rest to win both championships. That’s the goal.
“We’ll see. The first part of the race will be hard with the hot temperature. Then when it gets cooler, the tire will last longer and be more of a sprint race towards the end with not managing the tire wear as much.”
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