Team Penske President Jonathan Diuguid addressed the late developments that led to frustrations within the team despite Porsche Penske Motorsport (PPM) capturing a 1-2 finish in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
With an 1h12m to go, team orders put the #6 PPM Porsche 963, equipped with fresh tires and piloted by Kevin Estre, move ahead of the Felipe Nasr in the #7 sister car as the pair ran 1-2 but under threat by the #31 Whelen Cadillac of Jack Aitken. Roughly eight minutes later, Nasr made a late lunge on the inside of Estre entering Turn 17 to retake the lead en route to the win.
The outcome led to a tense post-race press conference, with a frustrating Estre calling out Nasr for not respecting team orders and stating the Brazilian “did something else.” Nasr didn’t discuss the details of team orders but said, ““There’s always going to be all versions, right? My version, the team version, and the other drivers’ version.” Both shared thoughts in front of their respective co-drivers, with Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor alongside Estre, while Lauren Heinrich and Julien Andlauer were on each side of Nasr.
Diuduid, who also calls race strategy for the #6 while Team Penske Competition Director Travis Law oversees strategy on the #7, shared his stance on the communication of team orders in the approach to the final hour.
“Yeah, we need to obviously go back and look at it,” Diuguid told Motorsport.com. “The thing is we were fighting to basically maintain first and second and finish 1-2, which we ultimately ended up doing. After that, we got to go back and look at the video and the communication of the drivers.
“Obviously, they were both pushing. And the #31 car was pressuring us at that time. So, in the end, did it go perfectly? Probably not. But we need to go back and look and see what the actual communication and stuff were.”
Diuguid was also asked how he plans on diffusing the tension between the teams, notably Estre and Nasr.
“Yeah, look, if the team cars are racing each other, that means we've done our job. So, we'll get everybody together here after a few days and talk about it and make sure that everything's clear and there's no hard feelings going into the next round, and hopefully we're fighting each other for one-two again in Long Beach.”
