Kévin Estre (born 28 October 1988) is a French professional racing driver. He is currently competing in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Interco ...

for Porsche in the GTE PRO class.

Career

Karting

Born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

, Estre began his racing career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

, contesting the 2001 French Cadet Championship and taking his first title. In 2004, he won the European ICA Championship, beating Jon Lancaster in the title competition.

Formula Renault

In 2006, Estre began his graduation to

single-seater An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have th ...

racing by running in Formula Campus by Renault and Elf which he won comfortably at the first attempt, taking six wins and a total of twelve podium finishes from thirteen races. For the 2007 season, Estre graduated into the French Formula Renault 2.0 championship for Graff Racing. He finished ninth, taking nine point-scoring finishes from thirteen races.

Sportscar racing

Estre decided to switch to sportscars in 2008, continuing his collaboration with Graff Racing into the Porsche Carrera Cup France. He won a race at the final round of the season at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula On ...

and scored another three podiums, finishing fifth overall. He remained in the series for 2009, but switched to Sofrev — ASP. This time he added race victories at

Nogaro Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy. Geography The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, Sa ...

, Le Castellet and Circuit de Lédenon, improving to fourth position in the series standings. As well as this, Estre competed in the Le Castellet round of the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship season with MP Racing. In 2010, he continued his participation in the Porsche Carrera Cup France with Sofrev — ASP. He again scored five wins, with a total of twelve podium finishes. This allowed him to enter the title battle with Frédéric Makowiecki, but Estre finished the season as runner-up to Makowiecki, by two points. Estre also raced with Mühlner Motorsport in the opening two rounds of the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship season and the season-opening

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 123 ...

round of the 2010 ADAC GT Masters season. K Estre Monza 2011

In 2011, Estre remained in the Porsche Carrera Cup France for a fourth successive year, but he joined the AS Events team. He dominated the season, amassing ten wins and took the championship title with an eventual margin of 113 points over his closest championship rival, Sylvain Noël. Additionally he made his début in both the

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international One-Design, one-make sports car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One, Formula One World Championshi ...

and the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany with Attempto Racing. In the Supercup he raced on a full-time basis, finishing seventh with a win at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of M ...

. In the German series, he only competed at the

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

. For 2012, Estre decided to concentrate on the

Supercup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

and the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

series, continuing with Attempto Racing. In the Supercup, he finished as runner-up to

René Rast René Rast (born 26 October 1986 in Minden) is a German professional racing driver and the 2017, 2019 and 2020 DTM champion. He previously drove for Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler in Formula E from 2019 to 2021 before Audi left the sport at the end o ...

, with one win at the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone ...

. In the German series, he finished fourth, winning the

24 Hours Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalles ...

support race held on the Nordschleife. He qualified on pole position for the 24 Hours with a laptime of 8:10.9, averaging 186.1 km/h. Estre also had a part-time schedule in the French series, contesting five races with Nourry Competition. In 2013, he prolonged his collaboration with Attempto Racing in the

and

series. He scored three podium finishes to end the season fourth in the Supercup, while in the German series, he dominated from the start of the season, collecting eight race wins in seventeen races to take the championship title. In 2014, Estre became a McLaren GT factory driver, joining the

ART Grand Prix ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...

squad in the Blancpain Endurance Series. He competed in the No. 99 McLaren MP4-12C GT3 with

Kevin Korjus Kevin Korjus (born 9 January 1993) is an Estonian racing driver. Career Karting Kevin Korjus was born in Tallinn, the son of former sidecarcross racer Aivar Korjus. He made his pan-European karting début in 2006, competing in the Rotax Max Euro ...

and Andy Soucek. The crew achieved two podiums, finishing the season in eighth position in the Pro Cup standings. In 2015, Estre joined Chris Cumming and Laurens Vanthoor in

OAK Racing OAK Racing is an endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA WEC World Champion drivers and teams on LMP2 class. In 2012 the team cont ...

in the LMP2 class of the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

. Also, he will stay in the Blancpain Endurance Series, but will switch to Von Ryan Racing. He will race in the No. 58 McLaren 650S GT3 with Rob Bell and

Shane van Gisbergen Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver in the Supercars Championship racing in the Number 97 Holden ZB Commodore car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. With three Supercars Championship wins (2016, 2021, 202 ...

. He also competes for McLaren at the Blancpain Sprint Series for Attempto Racing, partnering with Bell. In addition, the Frenchman competed at the Pirelli World Challenge, where he drove a K-Pax Racing McLaren to fifth place in the GT drivers standings. Also, he drove a Porsche 911 GT America at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

for Park Place Motorsports, and competed for the Porsche factory team at the

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (formerly the 1000 Kilometres of Spa-Francorchamps) is an endurance race for sports cars held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. History The Spa 24 Hours had been introduced in 1924, and other races fo ...

on a Porsche 911 RSR.

Racing record

Career summary

† Estre was a guest driver, therefore ineligible to score points.

Complete Porsche Supercup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

^† Full points not awarded due to exceeding maximum drive time limitation.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Estre, Kevin 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Lyon French racing drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Porsche Supercup drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers International GT Open drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers ART Grand Prix drivers NASCAR drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Graff Racing drivers OAK Racing drivers Formule Campus Renault Elf drivers KCMG drivers La Filière drivers Boutsen Ginion Racing drivers