Porsche’s Kevin Estre “frustrated and angry” with himself after qualifying last for WEC finale

Kevin Estre says he is “angry at himself” after he qualified last in the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh, which is fighting for the Hypercar title in this Saturday’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain.

Estre set a best time of 1m49.157s in the opening leg of qualifying for the Bahrain 8 Hours, which put the factory #6 Porsche Penske he shares with Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell 18th in the Hypercar division.

The sister #5 car qualified by Julien Andlauer progressed to Hyperpole and secured the eighth spot on the grid, just over a second off the pole-sitting #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi.

Estre, who is considered one of the fastest drivers in the Hypercar field, took full responsibility for the #6 Porsche’s dismal qualifying session, blaming a lock-up on his flying lap.

“I messed up Turn 1 on my first push lap,” the Frenchman told Motorsport.com. “I locked the inside front and then I aborted the lap. Then, I never had the grip really to do well the lap after.

“So, we are very far away in terms of lap time and in terms of position, which is very disappointing. Frustrated and angry against myself because there was a possibility to do better, but that's the way it is.

“It's a long race tomorrow, we believe we have a better car on the long runs anyway. But there was definitely a possibility to do better than that."

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre

Photo by: FIAWEC - DPPI

Estre and Vanthoor are aiming to defend the Hypercar world title that they won in 2024 with Andre Lotterer.

The duo faces a 21-point deficit to James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari 499P, with #83 AF Corse trio Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye separating the two crews. A total of 38 points are on offer in the bonus-points finale.

Porsche is also in the running for the manufacturers’ title, but would have to overcome a 39-point gap with a maximum of 65 available on Saturday.

Despite the poor starting position, Estre hasn’t given up hope of winning the world championship, citing the #6 crew’s incredible charge at the previous round in Japan.

“We can do a good result,” he said. “We started pretty much at the same spot in Fuji (17th), which was a six-hour race and we finished on the podium and Ferrari didn't score any points, so for sure it's possible.

“But we definitely were not on the good side of the pace and of the performance this weekend. Let's see how the long run pays off. Looks like we are better, but probably not as good as Toyota.”

Asked how the 963 compared with the 499P over long runs, Estre added: “Ferrari showed some very good pace also on the long runs in FP3, doing many different things with the three cars.

“So, we don't really know but at least we are somewhere not too far, I would say. But if it's enough to beat them I'm not sure but definitely we'll be around. I hope we can come back.”

Toyota, which hasn’t scored a podium thus far in 2025, locked out the front row in qualifying on Friday evening.

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With the #6 Porsche needing a strong points haul on Saturday to overturn its 21-point deficit to the #51 Ferrari, Estre worries Toyota could throw a spanner in the works and influence the championship battle.

“I think it shows that Toyota is above everyone so far this weekend - pretty much in each conditions. Ferrari, I would say, is better than us but within reach.

“But to get the championship, we will need to score a lot of points and this seems to be difficult as Toyota seems to have a bit of an upper hand on anyone this weekend.”

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