If you’re looking for a fun distraction that's of course racing related, search “Kevin Estre onboard” on YouTube. There you'll find a litany of videos ranging from the tens of thousands of views, to one with over 1.9 million. From the 2021 Nuburgring 24 Hours alone, there’s a wet qualifying lap where his near-supernatural car control is on full display. Another from that race replays his first two race laps, where he scythes his way through the field from 11th to 1st, dismantling the opposition. There’s also his Le Mans pole lap from last year, where right from the off, he backs his 963 into the chicane before Dunlop bridge. His movements look effortless as he reacts to each corner.
Lap completed, the camera cuts to Estre inside the car, who looks rather calm and not as if he just put down a pole-winning lap. The commentator asks, "Wow, did he breathe, do you think, in that entire three minutes and twenty five seconds? I'm not sure he did."
According to Estre, a loose car is a comfortable place for him to be in. Maybe too comfortable.
“I don’t try to be aggressive or whatever, this is the style I’ve had since go-karting,” Estre. “In my whole career, I’m used to controlling that and making the best out of this style, which can be an advantage in some conditions, can be a disadvantage.”
The 36-year-old Frenchman got his start in go-karts, then graduated to single-seaters for a brief time before gaining a roof while taking on the challenge of Porsche Cup racing. In 2016, Porsche brought him into the family as a factory driver where he spent years in GT cars. When Porsche Penske Motorsport brought their Hypercar program to the World Endurance Championship (WEC) program, Estre was one of the drivers tapped to drive the car. Last year, he won the WEC title with the team, and his reputation as one of the quickest, most exciting drivers in sports cars has only grown from there.
As a racer, you can’t be dogmatic in your approach. Estre’s Le Mans pole lap worked because the car was set up just for him, and just for qualifying. Driving like that in a race, though, is a quick way to burn up your tires, and not as helpful to the team when you’re sharing a car with other drivers who have their own setup preferences.
Add in considerations as well for conditions that then also determine what might work best for the car and the drivers. There may be cases in hot weather where you need a driver who will be gentle on the tires, and on the flip-side, wet, cool rainy conditions where you need someone who can get heat into the rubber. That's where Estre sees the advantage to his style. He’s able to 'switch on' tires more quickly than other drivers. For an endurance race, that is critical if the conditions call for it, and he can be deployed when the team needs exactly what he has to offer.
“That's the beauty of endurance. That you can also choose which driver to put [in] during a race,” he says. "That’s where the pairing of drivers has a huge importance on maximizing performance throughout the whole race.”
Adaptability has also played a significant role in Estre's style development and refinement. In his jump from Formula Renault to Porsche Supercup, he went from an open-cockpit, lightweight vehicle, to a Porsche that weighed well over 1,000 pounds more, with 200 more horsepower, and obviously, a roof. The transition from Cup car to 911 RSR wasn’t so difficult, since the RSR was designed for endurance, with more driver aids and a lot more grip too. The switch into prototypes was a little more forgiving.
“I was quite comfortable straight away because the aero on an RSR is not too far from a 963. Just the 963 has a lower center of gravity and lower weight, so the car is a bit more agile,” he says. More challenging was adapting to how the hybrid system affects braking and power deployment. But he wasn’t alone.
“Even the guys who drove the 919 (a Le Mans Prototype 1 car or LMP1 that competed in the 2014-2017 WEC seasons), it was a totally different approach,” he says. “Everyone sort of had to learn how this car worked. It definitely took me a little longer than expected to be consistent and quick on every track and understand what the car needs on every track.”
It’s not just adapting to a specific car either—there’s adapting to specific conditions, too. He learned that first in go-karts, and it’s something that’s a huge part of one of Estre’s specialties, racing on the Nurburgring.
“You barely have a stint without having some rain, or some fog, or some damp conditions, so you have to adapt quickly,” he says. “Reading and understanding which tire you need when, how much grip would it be to change from a wet to a slick or the opposite, so I think you learn there how to adapt, how to react to the grip.”
But racing is not simply improvising while reacting to the world around you.
“If you prepare yourself for different situations, you’ve already run through it in your mind, saw this situation on TV, on onboards, in reports, you’re unconsciously prepared to make the right decision,” he says. “In a start, for example, if you haven’t watched any starts on that track, you’re only driving on your instinct. You might make the right decision, but if you’ve seen the last 10 starts of this race, and seen that five out of 10 times, one guy spins in turn one and always goes to the outside. If you have this in your mind, you might make a better decision.”
Estre has already accomplished a lot in the sportscar world, but next on the list of achievements is the big one — winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Anything can happen in a race like that, but he's well prepared. And we’ll watch the onboards no matter what.
