The #6 Porsche’s poor qualifying performance for this weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours isn’t reflective of the car’s race pace, Kevin Estre told Motorsport Week.
“We didn’t have a great qualifying, for sure, but I think it doesn’t really reflect what our pace is,” said the Frenchman.
“I’ve been working well with Matt and Mathieu to get the car better. And I think the last session was decent, so we’ll see.”
Estre will race at Daytona alongside Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche 963. Campbell and Jaminet are the full-time IMSA Sportscar Championship drivers in the #6 car this year, with Estre joining them for the longer endurance rounds, starting with Daytona and its iconic 24 hour race.
Campbell qualified the car 10th in the 15 minute qualifying session on Thursday, the slowest of the GTPs who set a lap time. The sister #7 Porsche took third, in a better showing.
Cold conditions introducing some unknowns
However, at both the Roar Before the 24 test last weekend and the three practice sessions over the last two days, the weather in Florida has been uncharacteristically cold.
“But the conditions change quite a lot,” Estre commented.
“It was very cold throughout the whole week and now it’s been a little hotter as the race is gonna be, especially the finish [on Sunday].
“So difficult to know where we’re really at. But we definitely improved the car, the last sessions.”
This weather has introduced some unknowns, because the teams have not had a chance to properly practice in representative conditions.
I think today, FP3 this morning, was probably the only session which was some in a closer range in terms of temperature, compared towards what the race is going to be. So think there’s a quite a bit of a unknowns, especially for the end of the race where it’s going to be a bit hotter,” said Estre.
The #6 Porsche finished the third and final practice session second, with Jaminet almost half a second behind Cadillac’s Kamui Kobayashi, who set the pace in the hour-long session.
BMW and Acura with an edge
All week, Porsche have appeared to be a bit behind the pace-leading Acuras and BMWs. The #24 BMW of Dries Vanthoor took pole yesterday and both teams have had the edge over Cadillac on long run pace.
“I think BMW and Acura are little ahead of us,” Estre told Motorsport Week.
“It looks like at least from quali, and all the practices, where they seem a little quicker than us.
“But we’ll see, as I said, conditions are different. So hopefully our car suits these conditions well, and we also made some steps towards the end of the practices, which I hope are going the right direction,” he said.
The first three quarters of Daytona, though, isn’t necessarily about pace. Instead, drivers and teams need to focus on staying on the lead lap and keeping the car alive and out of trouble. The final six hours, then, is when the race comes alive and teams start pushing.
“Stay on the lead lap, don’t do any mistakes. I think you have to be in the right position way before the last hour. Because it’s difficult to pass, I think within the last five, six hours, you need to try to get there and and get maybe a bit more risk, overtaking on outlaps.
“To try to get in a good position. But yeah, it’s going to be pretty much a waiting race as it always is.
“But still, when you put the helmet [on] and there’s a restart, everyone is is getting hotter and excited — stuff can happen. So we have to keep cool and try to keep the the nose clean,” Estre concluded.
The Daytona 24 Hours starts on Saturday 25th January at 1:40pm local time, or 6:40pm UK time.
