The Penske-run factory Porsche 963 LMDh the Frenchman shared with Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer had sustained serious bodywork damage over the final hours of the Qatar 1812Km, which meant he was worried that a stop for repairs would wipe out his lead over the chasing Peugeot.
“The car was tough to drive, but the gap stayed pretty constant, so I was confident we could finish the race like this,” said Estre.
“When I was told to box, I thought, come on! But I was told not to worry, it is only going to be a short stop and everything is under control.”
The Porsche Penske Motorsport squad did not try to effect repairs to the #6 entry during the pitstop made with seven laps to go. It affixed a new adhesive race number at the rear of the left sidepod because the original had been removed along with a section of bodywork.
Estre lost 47 seconds as a result of the stop, which meant he still emerged with a lead of just under 40s over Jean-Eric Vergne in the #98 Peugeot 9X8.
Source: Autosport