REIGNING CHAMPIONS EDGE TIGHT GTE PRO BATTLE
Porsche came out on top in GTE Pro at the end of a topsy-turvy race in which all three manufacturers were in the ascendant at some point. Kevin
Estre and Michael Christensen eventually prevailed in their factory 911 RSR in a close battle with the two Aston Martins, coming home five seconds to the good.
This was a race that could have been won by Aston or Ferrari, but a victory for Porsche was probably the correct result. Estre and Christensen struggled in the rain, but were the quickest combination in the dry. That, combined with a timely stop to swap from wets to slicks, was enough to give the reigning class champions a first victory of the current campaign.
The winning Porsche started from pole, having initially been relegated to the back of the grid after Estre was adjudged to have exceeded track limits at La Source. A review of the video evidence resulted in him getting his time back.
Estre and Christensen were dominant in qualifying, both setting times quicker than anyone else to end up on the pole by an unprecedented four tenths. Any thoughts that they were going to run away with this race disappeared when the safety car pulled in after three laps. Estre lost the lead on the second lap after the race went green, and had nothing for the flying AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi.
The Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, which had struggled in qualifying, was clearly the superior package in the wet, but Estre admitted that Porsche hadn’t made the right call on which spec of wet tyre to run or at what pressures. “There was a lot of standing water and aquaplaning when we did the reconnaissance lap, but the track dried so quickly,” he said.
Estre made an early call to go to slicks, which worked in his favour when the second safety car period ended. He was able to zip past Pier Guidi as soon as the race went green and build up a lead of 10 or so seconds. The Porsche was then a more competitive proposition when the rain returned, the Manthey-run factory squad having learned from its earlier mistakes.
Aston’s form in the rain was the other way around. It was strong at the start, but struggled second time around. The British marque was still very much in the hunt with both its cars over the final portion of the race, despite two punctures for the Vantage shared by
Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.
Maxime Martin led in the Vantage he shared with Alex Lynn after staying out of the pits during the final safety car. Estre now found himself in an Aston sandwich, with Sorensen right on his tail. Martin needed to stop and was struggling with a front brake issue, while the other two needed to save fuel to reach the finish.
Estre made it into the lead with 20 minutes left on the clock, while Sorensen fell away. With four minutes to go, Martin ducked into the pits and was able to get out in time to take third.
Aston wasn’t too disappointed with second and third after such a turbulent race in which there were no fewer than 14 changes of lead.
“So much happened in that race and the Porsche was quicker in the dry, so you can’t complain when you get second with a car that had two punctures,” said Aston Martin Racing head of performance Gus Beteli.
There was disappointment in the Ferrari camp, however, after it ended up fourth with Pier Guidi and James Calado, and sixth with Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina. It reckoned it had nothing for Porsche and Aston after the latest round of automatic Balance of Performance changes.