Kevin Estre: No.6 Porsche 24 Hours of Le Mans win “doable” from back of Hypercar grid
No.6 Porsche was disqualified from qualifying
Kevin Estre believes winning the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans from the back of the Hypercar grid is “doable” after the No.6 Porsche Penske was thrown out of qualifying.
The No.6 car, which was on pole last year in the hands of Estre, made it safely into Thursday’s Hyperpole session at Le Mans after Wednesday’s initial qualifying.
However, the car was disqualified from the result after it was found in breach of the weight limit rules, with the No.6 shared by Estre, Larens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell starting the race from 21st and last in the Hypercar class.
Happy with the long run pace in the car overall, Estre is confident victory is still possible for the No.6, though doesn’t expect to be able to crack the top 10 inside the first hour of the race.
“Yeah, we’re confident,” he said on Friday.
“It’s definitely doable. I would not say we will be in the top 10 after one hour because the competition is too strong for that, or we will need a strong first stint.
“But I’m quite confident we will be fighting up there pretty early in the race if we have the pace which we’ve shown and we’ve seen in the practices.
“So, we’re on the back foot for sure. It’s not a position we want to be, to start last, but we’ll be there. We have the spirit and we have the speed to get up the front quite quickly.”
The No.6 car has had a tough 2025 World Endurance Championship campaign so far, with it yet to get to the podium as the series’ Balance of Performance regulations have negatively impacted the 963.
But the BoP changes for Le Mans - which are specific to the event - have put the car in a more competitive standing, with Estre hoping that some of the lessons from this weekend can transfer into the rest of the WEC season.
“Very good, better,” he said when asked about the 963 compared to previous rounds.
“I think the track suits our car well. We know that from last year.
“And obviously there’s different numbers behind all that, different characteristics.
“But the car felt good here, which is the most important thing. That’s the race we want to win.
“But let’s see if we can take some stuff from this weekend to implement in WEC as well.”
Porsche performed well in Thursday’s Hyperpole session, with the No.5 car getting to third on the grid, and the No.4 set to go from fifth.
Factory motorsport director Urs Kuratle says these results were not within Porsche’s expectations.
“To be honest, we hadn't necessarily expected these starting positions,” he said.
“Yesterday evening and during the night, the crew of our number 5 still had a lot of work to do.
“It was a short night for everyone. So it's all the better that we've now been rewarded for this effort with third place on the grid.
“Second and third row on the grid - that's a good starting position.”
