At the WEC round in Spa, the two works Porsches collide in the very first corner: Kevin Estre afterwards meek but still close to victory
Weather chaos dominated the action at the WEC round in Spa-Francorchamps. But for the 92 (Christensen/Estre) of all things.
What happened? Kevin Estre set his braking point for the La Source hairpin very late and dived deep into the corner. Team-mate Gianmaria Bruni was just able to react and open the steering. On the exit, one of the two Ferraris tried to take advantage and there was contact between the three cars.
Bruni took a blow to the left rear tyre, which then burst. The Italian dragged himself to the pits and ultimately brought home fifth and last place in the GTE-Pro category. But that was as good as it got, because after the incident at the start they fell off the lead lap right at the start of the race.
Kevin Estre apologises via Social-Media
Estre took the opportunity immediately after his stint to apologise to Bruni via social media. On Twitter he wrote: “I apologise to the 91 for the contact in turn 1. I blocked and had nowhere to go. They suffered a puncture as a result of the contact and that’s completely on me. “
I apologize to the 91 for the contact in T1, I locked up and couldn’t go anywhere. They got a puncture because of the contact and it’s fully on me. sorry pic.twitter.com/BzimYkmbYs
– kevin estre (@kevinestre) May 7, 2022
In a press release, the Frenchman goes on to explain, “I unfortunately braked on cold tyres. I slid straight, touched the 91 slightly. There were three cars next to each other at the exit. There was too little space. Our two cars then touched again. It certainly wasn’t the best solution from my side.”
And how did Bruni see the situation? “Kevin slammed on his brakes on the approach to the first corner, came way out and collided with me as we merged. We blew our tyre on the left rear – that was it,” said the Italian. “It’s a shame because we dropped a lot of points for Porsche today. “
Porsche collision at the start: “Mustn’t happen to us “
In fact, Porsche could have taken more than second and fifth at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, especially as Bruni and Estre started together from the front row. Things didn’t go badly for Estre at first after the starting collision: the 92 Porsche led the GTE-Pro field in the early stages of the WEC race.
Estre and teammate Michael Christensen were in the fight for victory until the end, in the end half a second was missing on Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado in the AF-Corse-Ferrari 51. And the calculation of the Porsche tacticians almost worked out: Without the last full-course yellow shortly before the end, both Ferraris would have had to refuel.
“We were hoping that there would be another FCY. That was the only way to win the race because the Porsche was faster. But at the same time I did everything I could to keep him behind me.”
Although the victory went to Ferrari, Porsche managed to defend its lead in both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships. But Alexander Stehlig, Head of Works Motorsport, makes it clear: “The fact that our cars collide at the start must not happen to us.” Especially not at the next race. This is the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
