Porsche frustrated by double FCY blow in WEC title decider

Porsche duo Christensen and Kevin Estre had been up towards the Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi within the last-ever race of the GTE Professional division, with 11 factors separating the 2 crews on the high of the drivers’ championship.

Estre ran a snug second within the early phases of the eight-hour contest, nicely away from the #51 Ferrari of Calado that was battling with the opposite Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni for the ultimate spot on the rostrum.

However the complexion of the race fully modified when the full-course yellow was deployed firstly of the second hour, permitting Ferrari to make an inexpensive pitstop and leap into the lead of the race.

Christensen and Estre misplaced additional time within the fifth hour when the #92 Porsche was the one GTE automobile to have accomplished its pitstop in inexperienced situations, dropping almost a lap off the lead as others stopped below the race’s third FCY intervention.

Whereas late gearbox issues for Calado and Pier Guidi supplied a ray of hope, Christensen and Este had fallen up to now behind by that point that they may solely recuperate to 3rd place, 55s behind the #64 Corvette of Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner they wanted to go with a view to snatch the title from Ferrari.

Whereas admitting that Ferrari was the faster of the 2 vehicles competing for championship honours in Bahrain, Christensen couldn’t disguise his disappointment over the timing of the 2 full-course yellows that prevented Porsche from having a shot on the title.

“We determined to push the #52 [Ferrari of Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco] somewhat bit so we pitted a bit early [to] undercut as a result of we knew they had been going to pit after to cowl,” Christensen instructed Motorsport.com.

“After which one lap later full course yellow [came out]. The one automobile [in the championship fight] to not pit at that time was the #51 – the luckiest I’ve ever seen.

#92 Porsche GT Crew Porsche 911 RSR – 19 GTE-PRO: Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre

Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“Then they only made a spot of 40 seconds and on high of that that they had the tempo, that they had the degradation, that they had the factors within the championship and from then on I knew it was going to be actually troublesome.

“We tried to think about a state of affairs the place we might perhaps problem another way with technique and we did so and that meant we pitted a bit in a different way. [But] one lap after [it was] full course yellow once more.

“We put ourselves even additional again, almost obtained lapped simply pitting below inexperienced when everybody else pit below full-course yellow.

“Once more, not having the tempo and being additional again, it simply did not go our means. It simply wasn’t speculated to occur I suppose.”

The #51 Ferrari started to develop a gearbox situation with Calado on the wheel throughout the seventh hour and his team-mate Pier Guidi needed to full the race in fifth gear with a view to nurse the automobile to the end.

Though Calado and Pier Guidi dropped to fifth amongst all GTE entrants throughout the 2 lessons, it wasn’t sufficient to sway the title in Porsche’s favour.

Requested what his response was when he was instructed that the Ferrari had suffered a technical drawback that would show to be terminal, Christensen replied: “What did I really feel? Perhaps karma hit them a bit.

“However I suppose it’s how it’s. They nonetheless managed to complete and full their needs for the championship.”

In a final roll of the cube, Porsche orchestrated a swap between its two vehicles on the ultimate lap to help the title bid of Christensen and Estre, with Richard Lietz staying within the pits within the #91 automobile till Christensen had leapfrogged him to 3rd.

Finally, the hobbled Ferrari was in a position to make it the end and no different automobile in entrance suffered late drama that will have allowed the #92 Porsche to maneuver as much as second.

“We tried to assist the #92 have some likelihood to win the championship in case of the #51 stopping,” Bruni, who was sharing the #91 automobile with Lietz, instructed Motorsport.com.

“We had been a bit unfortunate within the race [with] the full-course yellow. We misplaced a little bit of hole after which we had been preventing again. The automobile was operating nicely, stability was good.

“It is a disgrace [but] we’re completely satisfied for the season we had. We had been quick [and] we gained Le Mans.”