“Fortunately, I’ve had my truck driver’s license for over ten years, from when I used to drive around the world with my father’s team,” Porsche Penske driver Kevin Estre said with a laugh.
Of course, his answer followed our serious question.
The Porsche 963 had a record weight of 1,100 kilograms at the IMSA race in Long Beach; at Laguna Seca Raceway this weekend, it has been reduced to 1,084 kilograms, but still is by far the heaviest GTP car. What can the team do?
After finishing third and fourth at Long Beach, albeit aided by a well-timed caution, Porsche Penske Motorsport managed excellent damage limitation. However, at Laguna Seca Raceway, things are expected to be more difficult.
“It’s definitely more challenging, especially when braking and turning in. Every time you apply lateral forces to the car, it gets harder,” Felipe Nasr told Motorsport.com.
Estre added: “It’s not easy to know how it handles compared to Sebring [at 1,055 kilograms], for example, because the tracks are completely different. We have no back-to-back data.”
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport: Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images
The Porsche 963 is already new with the Evo package, and on top of that, the team lacks experience with such a high base weight. But the only option is to make the best of the situation.
This was achieved in Long Beach. Yet Estre knows the circumstances were a huge help: “Given the performance we had, we achieved a good result. We had a bit of luck, a good start, the right strategy. Everything came together.”
#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer, Ricky Taylor
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
Nasr points out that the nature of the street circuit in Long Beach also helped: “In Long Beach, you’re just completely stuck to the car in front. Whether you’re slower or faster, you can hardly make a pass.”
“On a track like Laguna Seca, You could probably develop a little bit more flow. I think, it will give us more of a room to play with the broader strategy. You can get more track position out of the pits with cars pitting earlier or later. The traffic here also plays a role.”
That can also have a negative effect, as Estre points out: “On street circuits, weight is less noticeable than on a regular race track because there are hardly any fast corners—actually, none at all. There’s a lot of stop-and-go, and grip is also lower, which leads to less tire wear.
“But here, you definitely notice it more. It’s more of a traditional race where pace is key, and you can overtake. If we’re too slow, then even if we eventually get track position through strategy, it’ll be tough.
“We have to make sure we minimize tire wear as much as possible—both in terms of setup and driving style. But you always try to do that, no matter how much weight you’re carrying. That’s why it’s just normal driving.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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