Porsche did not have the pace in the dry to compete for the win in the 6 Hours of Imola, Kevin Estre told MotorsportWeek.com after the race — but did when it began to rain with a couple of hours remaining.
“We had the pace to fight for the win on the damp, but on the full dry, we didn’t have the pace, definitely.
They were quicker than us. They used less tyres. So we didn’t have the pace on full dry.
But with the tricky conditions, I think we we made the best out of it and we made better calls, and probably most of the competition, in these conditions,” the Frenchman said to MotorsportWeek.com.
Estre came home second in the #6 Porsche 963, 7 seconds behind race winner Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota GR010, although at one point in the closing stages he was just tenths behind the Japanese driver, before backing off.
MotorsportWeek.com then asked Estre to clarify who he meant by ‘they’ — Ferrari or Toyota.
“Both,” he replied.
“Ferrari, I think they did big mistakes on strategy. Otherwise they would have been in front of us, at least on pace.
Toyota I think had the pace, but somehow on the damp, on the wet, they were quicker than us. But on the damp on slicks, I think we had a bit more than them.
“And I think we did a bit better on strategy to have to do less fuel saving in the last stint. Although in the end they showed that they had enough, but I think we we did a great job today on strategy.
Porsche pitted Estre two laps earlier than Kobayashi, giving the Porsche driver two laps more energy to use than Kobayashi. Estre subsequently used this to push to catch the Toyota, but Kobayashi had just enough in the tank to stay ahead.
“It’s hard, because you have to fuel save on a damp track where it’s always difficult to bring the tyre up to temperature. but we knew if we wouldn’t fuel save, we would not make it on fuel, on energy basically.
“The full course yellow helped us, and them — probably them more than us. But yeah, it’s hard to to fight for a victory at the end on a damp track, having to fuel safe, but he had to do the same.
Plus, Estre had a five second penalty for overtaking under safety car earlier in the race, a gap which he’d have had to build to Kobayashi in order to win.
“Yeah, we had to pass and and bring five seconds gap, which would have been hard but possible, I think, if I would have passed early, because we had the advantage on pace in that stint.
“But, I didn’t manage to pass. He was fast enough and didn’t do any mistake,” concluded Estre.
