After qualifying down in 17th position for last weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji (26-28 September), Porsche Penske Motorsport duo Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor could have been forgiven for thinking their FIA World Endurance Championship title defence was over. Twenty-four hours later, a searing charge through the field to the bottom step of the rostrum kept them solidly in the hunt.
From the back row of the Hypercar grid, Vanthoor scythed up the order into eighth place during his initial stint behind the wheel of the COTA-winning #6 Porsche 963 hybrid prototype, but contact with BMW’s René Rast along the way prompted an unscheduled rear wing replacement that dropped the Belgian outside of the top ten.
Estre subsequently took over inside the cockpit, and after losing further time due to having to make an emergency pit-stop under Full Course Yellow conditions – obliging him to return to the box for a regular refuel once the pit-lane re-opened – the Frenchman was in no mood to take any prisoners, overhauling Alessandro Pier Guidi (Ferrari), Alex Riberas (Aston Martin), Malthe Jakobsen (Peugeot), Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari) and Charles Milesi (Alpine) in swift succession to climb to second.
He then proceeded to hassle Peugeot’s Mikkel Jensen for the lead as last year’s race-winning crew in Japan looked poised to produce a repeat performance, only for the #6 to pick up a five-second penalty for a pit-stop infringement. That meant when Vanthoor rejoined the fray for the final hour, he was down in third, and try as he might to unseat Jensen just ahead, there he would stay to the end.
Nevertheless, with the championship-leading #51 Ferrari failing to score in FIA WEC’s milestone 100th race, Estre and Vanthoor’s stirring fightback at Fuji Speedway enabled the pair to reduce their deficit to the summit of the standings from 36 points to 21 heading into the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale on 6-8 November, with 39 remaining in play.
“It was a great race,” acknowledged Estre. “We started very far back, so third is a good result – I’m proud of what we achieved. We were a bit unlucky in the middle with the safety car and lost a lot of positions, but we fought hard to come back. Perhaps a little more was possible, but Peugeot and Alpine were simply too fast on the straights. That’s the way it is, and third place still means good points for the championship, which is getting closer-and-closer.”
In the sister factory Porsche, Julien Andlauer immediately went on the offensive to gain early ground and settle into a multi-car scrap for second, but a drive-through penalty for abuse of track limits and bad luck with the timing of safety car interventions dropped the #5 963 to 12th. Countryman Mathieu Jaminet thereafter dug deep to battle back to fourth, less than eight seconds behind Vanthoor at the chequered flag.
“We made the most of our opportunities,” reflected Andlauer. “The team did a fantastic job, and Mathieu was in the car for almost four hours. We had a bit of unexpected understeer at the start, which caused me to make mistakes and cost us a drive-through penalty. Still, we fought our way back. We lacked a bit of pace for a podium, but we collected crucial points towards the Manufacturers’ championship.”
Indeed, the double top four result – with the best-finishing Ferrari down in ninth – means Porsche now sits 39 points behind its Italian rival in that particular contest and 22 ahead of third-placed Cadillac, with 66 left to shoot for in Bahrain.
“After qualifying, I would have happily accepted third and fourth – that’s a strong outcome,” summarised Porsche Factory Motorsport LMDh Director, Urs Kuratle. “We pulled out crucial points on Cadillac in the championship and the drivers and team did an excellent job, even though we incurred some unnecessary penalties. Congratulations to Alpine on its first FIA WEC victory with the A424.”
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