Kevin Estre is a name that crops up very often in sportscar racing these days and it is a noticeable one too because it is often linked with some very fast times and some exciting racecraft.
Whilst not yet as well known as the current crop of elite members of the GT circus, the 25 year old Frenchman has been plying his trade with some very strong performances that have not escaped the attention of McLaren, who signed him as a factory driver for 2014.
A racer to his roots, the little Lyonnais started 12 years of karting aged only four and took the European Championship in 2004. He then moved into single-seaters for a couple of years which didn’t yield the same level of success and was a drain on financial resources as his father tried to run a team in Formula Renault. Fortunately for Kevin, he persisted where many other budding talents have simply faded to the background.
“I had an opportunity with the French Carrera Cup. I took a win with four podiums and finished fifth in the Championship in my first year. I went back again the next year and took the most victories of the year.”
Estre’s season was dogged with too many technical issues and crashes though and he was only fourth in the standings at the end of the year.
“2009 was my first GT race too, at Paul Ricard with the Sport Garage BMW in FIA GT3. I had the car in P3 when I came in but we had a driveshaft failure after that.”
His luck almost changed in 2010 when he tried his hand again Five wins, 12 podiums and 7 pole positions was an enviable record, but this time he came up just short to a certain Fred Makowiecki… “I lost by a point. We were fighting right to the last race. I actually had the best points, but you have to drop your worst results. I lost 21 points doing that but he had two zero point finishes to drop, so he didn’t actually lose anything! I did two races for Muhlner Motorsport in FIA GT3 too.”
2011 finally saw him take the Porsche Matmut Carrera Cup France. 10 pole positions, 10 fastest laps, 10 victories was a job very well done. He also raced in the Porsche Supercup and was Rookie of the Year with a win, three podiums and two pole positions.
2012 saw Estre focus on the Supercup (above) but also as a professional driver in the Porsche Cup Germany, a country that he still holds close to his heart, certainly as far as the World Cup is concerned! “I was second in the Supercup, only three points behind Rene Rast (who coincidentally raced for Muhlner in 2010 too) and Rookie of the Year in the German Cup.”
2012 also saw him take to the world endurance stage with participations in Porsches in the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring.
Last year’s Dubai 24 Hours was another endurance box ticked, with supporting acts at Daytona and Sebring once again and the not insignificant honour of Champion of the Porsche Cup Germany too.
“I have focussed a lot on the Porsche Cup. It is a really good championship in which to learn and I did not have a lot of opportunity at first in GTs. The cars are the same and there is not so much adjustment, maybe five to eight tenths you can find on set-up, but no more. The level of drivers is very hard, especially in Germany at the moment. You only have to see the best drivers coming out of that go into GT and they are right at the front straight away. The Porsche Cup led to Porsche putting me in at Daytona in 2012 and it went well for me, although we had problems. My team mate, Chris Cummings then took me to Sebring. That led to me being known in the US and now I have a full season deal with Patrick Lindsey at Park Place Motorsport.”
He has had a busy first half of the year in the TUSCC, showing good pace, but ultimately suffering disappointment with the GTD class Porsche so far. “The Porsche is based on a Cup car and we are fighting actual GT3 cars. Really we are at the very edge of the performance of our car and they can’t pull us up any further, whereas the GT3 cars have to be pulled down. But there are lots of cars, lots of spectators, great tracks and real fans so I really like racing there.”
And what future does the US hold now that he is a McLaren man? “The regulations announcement perhaps came a bit too late for McLaren, I don’t really know, but for the new 650, well let’s just say maybe, but I hope so! McLaren have no problem with me racing in the US and it is great experience for me, I will know all the US tracks by the end of the year…”
But it was 2013’s third place at Baku that was cited by Estre as his most important race in his life so far. “I drove a McLaren for Hexis. It was my first race in a McLaren and even though we had a puncture in the first lap, Rob Bell managed to get back from last to 28th place, then he gave it to me and I managed to get to second! We had a penalty and we finished third but we had shown that we could come back on the whole field. From that performance I got a call from Mr Whitmarsh who said he wanted to see me in Woking. Of course I wanted to see them and I came out of that as a contracted McLaren driver.”
The summer has seen him back in his hunting ground of Europe, where he also raced at Zandvoort in Round Two the ADAC GT Masters series. “It was a perfect weekend with a second place in qualifying and a great first stint in race one, overtaking the leader on the first lap and pulling a gap of 17 seconds before the driver change. Then in race two it was great as my team mate (title contender Jaap van Lagen) took the lead in his stint and I increased it to eight seconds in my stint.”
Estre may still need to earn his rookie stripes at the big one, but he was present and very correct at La Sarthe for the curtain-raising Porsche Cup race. “In the three weeks before the Blancpain Endurance Series race at Paul Ricard, it was great. First I had the Porsche Cup race on the morning of the Le Mans 24 Hours and whilst the result was not what I expected I showed a good performance. I had pole position, the fastest lap and led the whole race, I was out front and only lost it in the last 3km with a flat tyre. But that is motorsport and you can still be satisfied that you have done your best job. Also, to be on that circuit was a great experience for me and will be good for my future.”
And from Le Mans it was straight to the Nurburgring 24 Hours where he was part of the main event – in fact his stunning lap in qualifying, the best ever in the history of the event, to put his Dorr Motorsport McLaren on pole really cemented his credentials as one of the hottest emerging talents there is. “To do pole at the Nurburgring and give it to McLaren and to Dorr, who have struggled for the last two years was an honour for me. It was one of the biggest races for me, the Spa 24 will be up there as well. We didn’t have the best race but again the pace was clearly there.”
So how did he manage to find over two and a half seconds on the rest of the field with his 8:10 lap? The answer lay in part with the format of the top 30 shoot-out, but he was too modest to factor in his own talents too. “It was my first ever lap of the Nordschleife, the first time I was pushing in every corner and crest knowing I wouldn’t find a slow car on the other side. It is a great feeling. It was also the first time all weekend I had new tyres, low fuel and a set-up to do a single quick lap so I knew it would be good, but to be honest I had no idea how good it was going to be, I thought it would be around an 8:13 so I was really surprised when I saw the time!”
An undoubted sweet spot of form is not being mirrored with untroubled races (race-ending clashes at Paul Ricard in the BES on the opening lap and again in the first corner at Silverstone Grand Prix’s Porsche race) but Estre appreciates that he is on another type of learning curve now.
“I am spending a lot of time in the car and I am doing a lot of races and doing that every weekend helps you be there: feeling the feedback and understanding the set-up. We are very lucky because the McLaren is fast everywhere – on every circuit. There will always be luck of course but there is still a lot that is to do with your frame of mind. Having worked with my father and knowing how the other side of a race team works helps me to know how they are going to be feeling about things and helps me keep my feet on the ground too.”
Kevin Estre is a very likeable, very fast driver who is clearly ready and able to perform consistently at the top level and if lady luck plays her part in the second half of the year, ‘emerging’ will no longer be an appropriate description.
PS
