Porsche was considered by many to be the favorite to win the 92nd edition of the French classic, having won two of the three previous World Endurance Championship events in Qatar and Spa, and having also been quick in testing and qualifying at Le Mans.
Toyota’s technical director, David Floury, even said that Porsche wouldn’t have done a “good job” if it hadn’t won the race, so impressed was he with the pace of the 963s in testing.
Although the expanded three-car Penske-run team enjoyed a number of stints at the front of the race, including on Sunday afternoon, there was a clear disparity in performance compared to the LMH cars of Ferrari and Toyota.
In the end, fourth place was the best result Porsche could achieve in its second Le Mans appearance in the Hypercar class, as Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer narrowly missed out on the podium in the #6 963 LMDh.
Speaking after the race, Estre hit back at comments made earlier in the week by Toyota, claiming it was the Japanese manufacturer that failed to rise to the occasion, losing the fight for victory against Ferrari.
“Toyotas make me laugh when they said after Test Day that if we hadn’t won this race it was because we would have made a mistake. Today they were the ones who made a mistake,” Estre told Motorsport.com.
“In the end, we were flat out from day one and I don’t think they were. We didn’t have false hopes, we were hoping for a good match and we had it. We gave everything we had, but it wasn’t enough.”
#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
Christensen also suggested that Toyota and Ferrari raised the pace during the most important part of the race week, allowing them to overtake Porsche and engage in a direct duel for victory.
“I think the others picked up the pace,” Christensen, who finished sixth in the #5 Porsche shared with Frederic Makowiecki and Matt Campbell, told Motorsport.com. “The others picked up the pace when it was necessary and we gave everything from the start.”
Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach declined to comment on whether other manufacturers hid their true pace before the race. However, he confirmed that the order was very different from what was seen in the tests.
“I can only say that we ran through our program in practice,” he told Motorsport.com. “We did everything. We thought it was the right thing to do and we showed that we knew how to do it. If other competitors didn’t want to show everything in the tests, it means nothing to me.”
“We do what we think is right and this is our program. Yes, in the race it seemed a little different from practice, but for me it’s not a problem.”
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The straight-line speed deficit slows the Porsche down
Porsche Penske, like other teams, made some costly strategic errors, as the weather remained unpredictable for much of the race. However, he didn’t have the pace needed to challenge Ferrari and Toyota, especially in the last two hours, when the rain returned to La Sarthe.
Urs Kuratle, Porsche LMDh director, revealed that the 963 LMDh suffered from a mysterious lack of top speed, a problem that is exacerbated at Le Mans by the long straights and rapid acceleration zones.
“We lacked speed on the straight,” Kuratle explained in an interview with Motorsport.com. “It’s something we need to understand where it comes from, from acceleration, from aerodynamic efficiency, I don’t know.”
“We’re not talking about much, 2 or 3 km/h, so it’s not much. But these gaps or differences at Le Mans are even worse. The straights are longer than on normal race circuits. That’s something we’ll analyse.” .
Kuratle said he was proud of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s effort in its second appearance in the Hypercar class at Le Mans, but admitted the team was “simply not good enough” to take victory.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted,” he said. “I’m proud of the team and all the drivers, engineers, mechanics and everyone involved.”
“It’s the biggest moment of the year for us in the WEC and if you come fourth that’s not what you want. Maybe you’re wondering why, we just weren’t good enough, that’s what it was.”
“We would have taken some strategic decisions differently, but this applies to all teams. And at the end of the day we were 40 seconds away from victory, which is incredible after 24 hours. In the end, however, it wasn’t enough.”
Information added by Ben Vinel
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