Porsche’s Kevin Estre felt Toyota rival Ryo Hirakawa was “blocking me in all places” regardless of being proven blue flags on an outlap in Sunday’s Fuji WEC race.
Lengthy-time race chief Estre encountered the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Hirakawa at first of the sixth hour after the Japanese driver got here into the pits comparatively early for his remaining pitstop.
Driving the #6 Porsche Penske 963 LMDh, Estre continued to shut in on Hirakawa, who was first proven a blue flag on the Flip 8 kink. However after operating nostril to tail on the Dunlop chicane, Estre and Hirakawa made contact on the lengthy Flip 15 hairpin, with the Toyota driver subsequently operating off the observe.
Rejoining the circuit, Hirakawa briefly moved forward of Estre into Flip 16, earlier than the Porsche driver lastly accelerated away from him on the primary straight to place a lap on him.
Talking after clinching his second win of the 12 months along with team-mates Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, Estre claimed that Hirakawa had no intention to let him by simply regardless of being obliged to take action.
The 30-year-old was later deemed responsible of ignoring blue flags and handed a drive-through penalty by the stewards.
“The #8 Toyota got here out on chilly tyres, at the very least on one aspect [of the car],” Estre defined. “It was a bit slower and it was about to get one lap down and he undoubtedly didn’t drive to let me [by]. He blocked in all places and I needed to go him, and he handed me, and so forth.
“It was fairly scorching, we had somewhat contact in Flip 15. So that they threw stuff at us however we’re stronger this 12 months. So that they hold throwing however someway they do not succeed, which is nice for us.”
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre
Photograph by: Andreas Beil
Hirakawa was operating fourth on benefit earlier than pitting and would have regained the lap he misplaced to Estre after the Porsche driver made his personal cease later within the remaining hour. However the drive-through penalty meant the #8 GR010 Hybrid Hirakawa shared with Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley might end no larger than tenth, costing Toyota the lead within the producers’ standings to Porsche.
Hirakawa admitted that he didn’t wish to make it simple for Estre to lap him, however felt that the French driver additionally deserved to be penalised for pushing him off the observe.
“I knew that I used to be combating with automobile #6,” he mentioned. “After I noticed in mirror automobile #6, I attempted to give attention to my tyre prep. In fact I’d not go simple on them.
“After which automobile #6 simply pushed me off at Flip 15. That is it. Apparently, I had an infringement for a blue flag. I feel I had [done] nothing fallacious.
“After I heard there was an investigation for automobile #8 and automobile #6, I assumed possibly automobile #6 will get a penalty as a result of he pushed me off. Was a little bit of a shock.”
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor
Photograph by: Andreas Beil
In its report, the stewards acknowledged that “automobile 8 was proven blue flag on a number of events and may haven’t continued to struggle with automobile 6 in flip 13-14-15-16”.
However Toyota’s technical director David Floury was unimpressed by the choice to penalise Hirakawa, insisting that he wasn’t given sufficient time to let Estre go him.
The sanction was significantly vital because it has left Toyota dealing with a 10-point deficit to Porsche within the producers’ standings with simply the Bahrain finale season to run.
“As soon as once more we will query the selections that had been taken towards us,” he mentioned. “Clearly [with] blue flags you get a penalty when you could have a blue flag for 2 sectors [and] we get the blue flag [for the] first time in Flip 8.
“We had been offsetting the technique as a result of we had determined to chop brief that stint to go for a full stint on the finish of the race with new tyres. So we had been offset nearly, we had been like 25-30s behind automobile #6 and never a full lap [down].
“In any case, we acquired a blue flag in flip 8, which is the primary time, and he [Estre] pushed us off in Flip 15. We left room for him to go by, he hit us, pushed us off observe and we get a penalty as a result of we made contact with him.
He added: “I wish to perceive as a result of I’ve clearly not seen the identical motion lately and it is changing into lots [more difficult] this season.
“I’ve seen extra penalties for yellow flag infringement in that race than within the final 4 seasons altogether. This can be a consequence of the truth that in Austin we complained about this example.
“Clearly not pleased with [how] the sporting facets are dealt with.”
By the way, the opposite vehicles from Toyota and Porsche had been additionally concerned in a collision, with Kamui Kobayashi taking the blame for the collision that put the #7 GR010 HYBRID out of the race.
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Watch: Again-to-back wins in Fuji | WEC 6 hours of Fuji Highlights
