Porsche "not the quickest" but in the "ballpark" heading into Le Mans

Kevin Estre believes Porsche is in the “ballpark” but is “not the quickest” going into this week’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Estre made that comment after piloting the #6 Porsche 963 to fifth place on Sunday afternoon in the Le Mans test day, just over a second down on the chart-setting #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley.

The additional #4 963 LMDh entered by the factory Penske team was classified sixth in the same session, while the #5 Porsche finished on the cusp of the top 10 in 11th.

Crucially, the Porsches also looked rapid in a straight line, with the customer Penske entry topping the speed charts at 344.5km.

“We had a decent test day,” Estre, who shares the #6 car with Laurens Vanthoor and Mathieu Jaminet, told Crash.net. “We gathered good data with the three cars and each one made their own sort of programme and improved the car.

“We saw that we were, in terms of performance, in the ballpark in terms of top speed - in the ballpark [but] not the quickest.

“I don't think we are the favourites yet. But we are there.

“It’s difficult to know what the other did, which sort of programme, if there were some low fuel runs or not.

“The fuel has a big effect here [and] the weight of the car has a big effect on lap times. Obviously, you don't know what the others do, so it is difficult to know.

“Just we can see the lap times and the top speeds and there we saw that we were somewhere, not the quickest, but somewhere around.”

Porsche was considered the favourite for victory at Le Mans 12 months ago, but its second outing at Le Mans with the 963 LMDh ended in disappointment as it failed to even finish on the podium.

As per the Balance of Performance changes for 2025, Porsche has received a 1.4 per cent boost in stage-two power, but the minimum weight of the 963 has been increased by one kilogram.

Estre feels Porsche is more competitive overall compared to last year, when it managed a best result of fourth in the Hypercar class.

“We gained top speed compared to last year, which was needed because we were the slowest last year, but some others gained as well,” he explained.

“Top speed can be fairly influenced by tow, by low fuel runs, etc. So it's difficult to know the number of laps we've done.

“But we definitely saw that one or two brands were quite ahead of the field and we were around the middle on the good side, but around the mid-pack. We definitely gained compared to last year.”

Ferrari set the quickest time in the morning test session on Sunday before emerging as the closest rival to Toyota in the afternoon session, with the factory #51 car finishing second ahead of AF Corse’s customer #83 entry.

Ferrari arrived at the Le Mans on the back of an undefeated three-race run in the World Endurance Championship, as well as back-to-back wins at La Sarthe in 2023 and ‘24.

Estre believes the Prancing Horse is well-placed to capitalise on its form in the 93rd running of the French endurance classic.

“I hope it's going to be a great battle, to be honest. That's what we all want. That's what we are here for,” he said.

“But I would consider Ferrari as favourites because they've been very strong this season. They won two times Le Mans in a row and they were quickest in session one and not far in session two.

“They have the highest top speed, so they will be there.”