Estre, Christensen and Makowiecki Will Share the No. 97 Porsche at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – WeatherTech Racing is entering a second Porsche 911 RSR-19 for Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans that completes the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki will pilot the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Porsche running alongside its No. 79 stablemate driven by Cooper MacNeil, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. The race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will be the final one for GTLM, with the class being replaced by GTD PRO in 2022.
Makowiecki is aiming for his third Motul Petit Le Mans class win in four years.
“Petit Le Mans is a very special race, one of the best of the season,” said Makowiecki, who has six career WeatherTech Championship wins. “It is always a big fight. I’ve won it twice in GTLM; last year in 2020 and my first came in 2018. We will try to repeat this next week. This will be the first time all of us drive together in the Porsche RSR. We are motivated to have a good result. It is also special to be running the last race of the GTLM. The competition level will be high with BMW and Corvette. I am looking forward to the race.”
Estre co-drove the No. 79 Porsche at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona and last month’s Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway. He’s eager to team with fellow Frenchman Makowiecki and Dutchman Christensen in the No. 97 at Michelin Raceway.
“I’ve driven a lot with Michael, and we’ve had a lot of success together,” Estre said. “This will be my first time sharing a car with Fred, so that will be interesting. This will be my second Petit Le Mans, the first was in 2014 and it didn’t go so well. I am looking forward to it.”
Christensen has notched class wins driving Porsches at both the Rolex 24 (2017 in GT Daytona) and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts (2014 in GTLM). This week’s return will mark his first WeatherTech Championship event since the 2017 Motul Petit Le Mans.
“Petit Le Mans is a very challenging race,” Christensen said. “Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta is narrow and makes for a fast and hectic race. People are excited and ambitious for the race, which makes for some chaos on the track. We need to stay out of trouble and be ready to fight for the win late in the race.”
Saturday’s race airs live starting at noon ET on NBC before moving to NBCSN at 3 p.m. IMSA Radio (XM 202, SiriusXM Online 992) also has flag-to-flag coverage.