Kevin Estre, who had just won the German Porsche Carrera Cup, made a triumphant return to France in the final round of the GT Tour. On Saturday, he came first in the French Porsche Carrera Cup an hour before winning race 1 in the French FFSA GT Championship in the TDS Racing BMW Z4 with Henry Hassid. It was the same story on Sunday. Estre achieved a rare feat by being on the topmost step of the podium in two top-class championships in the same meeting. On Monday, the icsport management driver celebrated his 25th birthday and received an unexpected present, namely: a drive in the Hexis Racing McLaren in the Baku World Challenge!
Porsche Carrera Cup France – a nod to 2011
Henry Hassid was the man behind Estre’s presence in the Var last weekend, as he was looking for a team-mate to help him finish his season on a high note in GT, and also a competitive Porsche to shine in the Cup. An agreement was reached with Attempto Racing, Kevin’s usual team, to allow the 2011 Porsche Cup champions to race under the same banner: that year Estre and Hassid won the A and B titles in the series.
A letter and a figure are enough to sum up Estre’s performance on the Paul Ricard circuit – P1! The driver in the no. 99 Porsche set the best times in the two free practice sessions, then two pole positions followed by two dominant victories. “The team had never raced at Ricard before but with its knowledge of the car and my experience of the circuit, we found the right setup very quickly.”
French FFSA GT Championship – a BMW double!
While the Frenchman was the hot favourite for the Porsche Cup, he wasn’t expected to win at the wheel of a car he was racing for the first time, which had never been victorious in France. “With its engine at the front the BMW Z4 is very different from the car I’m used to driving, but I adapted very quickly,” analysed Kevin. “The TDS Team did a good job. The engineer Jacques Morello knows his stuff and Henry was by far the best gentleman in the field. On my side I did two races without making any mistakes, which wasn’t easy as there were some pretty good drivers at the start.”
Among the 29 cars on the grid were some top-class teams including HTP Motorsport, winner of this year’s Spa 24 Hours. “The Mercedes-Benz was very quick in a straight line, but it seemed to wear its tyres pretty quickly. As it started in front of us we came up with a strategy to overtake it: to exit the corner leading on to the Mistral straight behind on the right line and take advantage of slipstreaming to get close at Signes, then plunge down the inside in the Beausset double right-hander.” It worked like a dream on Saturday. Henry started in ninth place and fought his way up to second behind the Mercedes-Benz. Kevin closed the small gap between himself and Alon Day, overtook him as planned and saw the chequered flag eight seconds in front as well as setting the fastest lap!
The next day Kevin was second on the grid for race 2 behind the Mercedes-Benz. “I wasn’t quite as quick at the start, but I pulled him in by the end of the stint. I tried to pass him in the same place as the day before, but Day had me covered and closed the door.” The two leading driver line-ups had to cope with a time handicap when they pitted: 15 seconds more for the BMW because of its victory the previous day and 20 for the Mercedes-Benz due to its second place and the higher grade of its B driver. Hassid rejoined in front of the Silver Star but behind the Loeb-Lapierre McLaren and the Ayari-Beaubelique Ferrari. It took him only three laps to slice past the Italian car and with five minutes to go he hustled past the English machine to make it a double!
Hexis Racing McLaren test – on board for Baku
Estre stayed on at Paul Ricard for an extra day to test one of the Hexis Racing McLarens. The 2011 FIA GT1 World champions will race in the Baku World Challenge on 22-24 November, which is the eagerly-awaited final of the FIA GT Series. The aim of the test was to select a team-mate for Rob Bell, the works McLaren GT driver. It seems that Philippe Dumas found what he was looking for. “I’m delighted to welcome a guy who’s very quick, humble and a hard worker. This day’s testing confirmed that he’s as good as I thought he was. Right now I’m firing a warning shot across the bows of our rivals in the Baku World Challenge, as with such a talent combined with that of Rob Bell, they’ll have us to reckon with! ” In the meantime Kevin will take part in another final, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Abu Dhabi.