24h Le Mans
At the age of 36, Kévin Estre has added the Hypercar World Endurance Drivers’ Championship trophy, shared with Laurens Vanthoor and André Lotterer, to a cabinet already crammed with GT awards. A satisfying conclusion to the season thanks to outstanding teamwork and dogged determination to maximise the potential of the Porsche 963 in the face of stiff competition.
“We have done a lot of work together,” Estre says, when prompted to lift the lid on this memorable season. “There were a few changes within the team and we also benefited from a year’s experience with the 963,” he adds. The season’s opener in Qatar gave an immediate indication of what lay in store with a Porsche 963 already showing greater performance. The team has continued to improve race after race, backed by top-drawer engineers and stimulated by technical choices that have boosted the car’s capabilities.
On top of the technical preparation, the alchemy between the three drivers has been a decisive factor. “We’re a strongly bonded crew,” Estre stresses. “We all have the same ideas about endurance. No-one looked to step into the limelight because, above all, we complemented one another,” he adds. With such solidarity and complementarity, strategic decisions to get the best out of every situation could be reached without any risk of friction. “We’ve never put anyone's nose out of joint due to the choice of setup, tyres or strategy. We’ve always kept an open mind and there has never been a need to tread carefully to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes.”
This ability to optimise performance was crucial in winning the title. “We weren’t the quickest, but we managed to pick up more points than our rivals,” Estre points out. Although the Frenchman and his two teammates brilliantly won two key races in Qatar and at Fuji, they especially showed remarkable consistency. Where others made mistakes, the trio of Vanthoor/Lotterer/Estre managed to fight their way onto the podium despite a lack of pure speed. “When our performance perhaps merited a Top 5 position, we succeeded in climbing onto the podium. We always struck while the iron was hot, whereas others sometimes missed opportunities.”
“We’re world champions. It’s my biggest title and we've seen off some mind-blowing competition too,” Estre insists, aware of the scale of the achievement. This season, where the competition has never been so ferocious, will remain etched in the racer’s memory. Now a two-time world champion after adding the Hypercar title to his GT success, Estre looks to the future with determination. Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright – his dream since starting out in endurance in 2015 – is still his goal.
In 2025, he will defend his title alongside de Vanthoor, with Matt Campbell joining the pair for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The schedule will be intense as it will also include the showpieces of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship such as Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans.
Estre and his teammates have shown this season that cohesion and consistency in this discipline are as precious as pure speed. Their exemplary 2024 campaign marks a new page in the history of international endurance.
