Why ‘Ring records are scarier than quali laps

Kevin Estre set the GT3 RS Nurburgring lap time. Here’s why it was a bigger challenge than qualifying for the N24

Porsche works driver Kevin Estre is used to extracting the maximum from Porsche 911 racecars on the Nürburgring Nordschleife – his ballsy fightback to second place at the end of last year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours is testament to that, even if a post-race disqualification on an engine technicality ultimately left him empty-handed.

The reigning WEC LM GTE Pro champion scythed through the field, gave no quarter and made Porsche motorsport boss Pascal Zurlinden look like he was watching a horror film as we looked on from the pit garage – as you’ll see on the Porsche Endurance documentary on Amazon, which is well worth a watch.

So you might imagine that setting a production-car lap record on the Nordschleife would be a walk in the park for the 31-year-old Frenchman, who worked his way up from karting to Carrera Cup and Supercup championships, left for McLaren before returning to Porsche in 2016.

He’d get a good night’s kip, there’d be no traffic, he’d wait for ideal conditions, then just set off at his leisure and bag the time. Indeed, Estre set a stunning 6min 56.4sec lap in the outgoing 911 GT3 RS (the 991.2), extracting so much performance from the car that he even blew past the 918 Spyder hybrid hypercar’s 6min 57sec time (though, yes, the GT3 RS was on the optional Cup 2 R tyres, not original equipment Cup 2s)

Yet Estre reveals that he finds setting production-lap records more intimidating than going for a qualifying lap in a full-house GT3 R racecar at the ’Ring because there’s less grip and aero, so the car moves around more.

‘I enjoy [the road car records] a lot, but the first laps are always a bit scary,’ admits the apparently fearless Estre. ‘I have some kind of expectation from the GT3 R with great aero, slick tyres, it’s quite a step [to the road car]. The [road] car is amazing, look at the lap time to the racecar, it’s not that far, the speed you can carry, the aero is amazing, and it’s a lot of pleasure, but I need some time to adapt. It’s a lot of adrenaline to go for the record on Nordschleife, harder than doing a quali lap in VLN. The record laps are very rare, I’m not used to this, it’s another challenge, but the cars are getting very close to race car with street legal tyres and weight.’

Check out the onboard video below to witness Estre’s nail-biting lap in the GT3 RS first hand. It’s all so full-on that it’s hard to pick a favourite moment, but the long, fast, flat-out climb out of Bergwerk to Mutkurve where we see Estre nudge 9000rpm in fifth is up there. And for us mere mortals watching in awe, it’s quite reassuring to know the man behind the wheel was thinking ‘bloody hell, this is a bit scary’ when he first tightened up the harnesses.

With the next 911 GT3 RS in the works, let’s hope we’ll see Estre back behind the wheel for another nail-biting lap.