Porsche driver Kevin Esther says the close finish to Le Mans in 2025 in 24 hours doesn’t represent the pace of his car as he claims that “we weren’t competing to win.”
No.6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 Ester-powered Matt Campbell and Lawrence Vantor began from behind the hypercar grid after losing their qualifying for weight infringement.
In the strong first stint, Esther scored No. 6 in the top 10 in the early stages of Le Mans on Saturday, 24 hours of 2025, with sister No. 5 cars leading.
No. 6 remained the only 963 throughout as he continued to play the car due to a mix of major Ferrari strategies and penalties.
Esther entered the final hour of the race, running second ahead of No. 51 among the race-winning No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, and was only 14.048S ad-lifted with a checkered flag.
However, after the event’s 93rd run ended, he spoke to the media on Sunday – including crash.net – Esther doubted what the results sheet read.
“In terms of performance, they (Ferrari) made a mistake so we’re approaching on paper, but we were never approaching,” he said.
“We weren’t competing to win that race apart from the first three hours, but as soon as they put down the ‘second gear’ and came up with the same strategy as us, we tripled the OK (tyre stint) and increased the number of laps to 13.
“Then we saw, OK, they have a pace, they have degradation, they were faster than us and from that moment we thought ‘OK, it would be very difficult’ but we really didn’t give up.
“I have to say I am truly proud of what we did today.
“I don’t know how it is from the outside, but I felt it was great to be part of this team from the inside and give it everything and be better than the others.”
Esther believes that the hot final hours of the race may have worked for the Porsche benefits, but admits that Ferrari was “strange” to make a massive drop afterwards.
“I think the outcome shows that it was probably our best chance, but we also knew… They (Ferrari) had such a dominance throughout the race that it would be strange to lose all of that pace in the final hour,” he added.
“So we knew we were going to get closer, and we tried to push them into mistakes, and we did the best strategy for us.
“Full push, Quali wrap after Quali wrap, we are trying to maximize everything.
“That was our only chance. I’m glad we did it. We actually managed to separate it. It didn’t look that good at the moment. But we really wasn’t enough. We really tried it.”
Porsche said “there was a small star” above No.6 in the first hour.
Estelle’s rapid rise in the very early stages of the race surpassed his own expectations, admitting that it’s unlikely to be in the top 10 on Friday.
He says the car was working well at that stage, but admits that he had a bit of luck.
“It was actually a lot of fun,” he said.
“I don’t know, I felt good. The car feels good, I feel good.
“Maybe I had a little star on my car, but when I had to go to the right, I gave the right momentum and made the right decision in traffic.
The No.6 car runner-up spot at Le Mans won the first podium of the 2025 World Endurance Championship, struggling to get anywhere in the first three rounds.
This is largely dependent on the lack of a balance of championship performance regulations in place for Porsche. This was not the case in Le Mans under the isolated BOP of the event.
When asked by the crash if this result indicates a more aggressive reception step for the next race, he replied.
“Last year we proved we have a pace, we are consistent enough and we have a team behind us to win the championship.
“This year has been a tough start for a lot of reasons. Today, it was counted and showed us that when we have, we can say numbers with us and fight against them.”