Estre “Had Nowhere to Go” in Race-Deciding N24 Incident

Image: ADAC Nordrhein

Kevin Estre was left “frustrated and disappointed” by the outcome of the Nürburgring 24 after a penalty for contact with a GT4 car cost Manthey EMA victory, with the Frenchman saying he “would have done the same” in a repeat scenario.

Estre’s No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R, which he shared with Ayhancan Guven and Thomas Preining, crossed the line first at the end of the 53rd running of the Eifel endurance classic, but was dropped to second due to a 100-second time penalty.

That penalty was handed out for an incident in which Estre made contact with the No. 179 Doerr Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

Estre was battling with Raffaele Marciello when he came up behind the slower GT4 runner in the section between Kallenhard and Wehrseifen.

The Frenchman attempted to pass the Aston Martin, driven by Rolf Scheibner, which led to contact that ended with the No. 179 machine coming to a rest on its roof after being pitched into the guardrail.

Explaining the incident from his perspective, Estre claimed he had “nowhere to go” after he was pressed onto the curb on the inside after initially anticipating room to complete a clean pass.

“We were catching some traffic and the car in front of me, the GT4, had three blue flags in a row,” Estre said in the post-race press conference.

“He left the door open for the triple right. I went inside, there was room and then he turned in and then there was no room anymore.

“I saw him coming, I braked, I was fully on the curb but I had nowhere to go.

“He had a lot of room on the left obviously he didn’t see me or he thought I was further behind, which is sad for him.

“I’m happy that he’s fine and this is what we we have to face many times in the race.

“To be honest if the same situation would have come again, I would have done the same so for me there is nothing that I did [wrong].

“It’s a racing incident, of course there’s always two to have an incident, but for me, I was inside.

“There was some room, he didn’t close the door and when you’re on the inside I guess the car on the outside has to leave the room from one car which there wasn’t.

“We had a contact from my front wheel to his door, so I was alongside him quite a lot when I braked and I saw he was closing the door. So that’s the incident.”

Manthey initially didn’t serve the 100-second penalty when it was handed out, filing a protest that was thrown out just a handful of minutes before the end of the race.

That led to the penalty instead being added to the No. 911 car’s final race time, dropping it behind the No. 98 BMW M4 GT3 EVO in the final result.

“They took a decision, we tried to protest but they didn’t accept the protest,” said Estre.

“The rest is history, we crossed the finish line first but we had this big penalty and we lost the race.

“So yeah, it’s a sad moment for sure for us. I think we really did a great race. One contact in the race ended up ruining our result.

“Nevertheless, it’s a great weekend for Manthey, for Porsche, for my two teammates. They did well.

“We had a great car [and] we were all the way at the front. We didn’t hide and in the end, it was not enough.”

Marciello, who was closely following behind Estre when the incident occurred, bounced across the curb as he made an attempt to avoid the out-of-control Aston Martin.

“Looking at the video, probably I was able to go straight without touching the Aston,” Marciello told Sportscar365.

“But when you’re inside and I saw the car coming, I thought, ‘It’s coming,’ so I turned.

“But then I didn’t realize the curb is that high. The problem is I didn’t hit the curb, I think it was the grass because I avoided the curb but the grass has this split and I hit with the back and I jumped.”

Source: Sports Car 365