Following an exciting 6 Hours of Shanghai where Porsche cruised to an impressive win to secure back-to-back WEC manufacturers titles, the spirit of Le Mans now heads to the kingdom for the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain.
The series’ sole desert race marks the ninth and final round of the 2016 WEC season, and it promises plenty of excitement.
This year’s Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain takes place as part of the first-ever Bahrain Motorsport Festival at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir. It is scheduled for November 17 to 19, and the WEC will be one of the festival’s headlining events.
In Porsche’s victory in China, the trio of Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber and Timo Bernhardt started from pole and flawlessly steered their no. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid to first place at the chequered flag. They completed 195 laps as they cruised all the way to the finish.
The result earned the Hartley-Webber-Bernhardt trio their fourth triumph of the season and it helped the German outfit seal the 2016 WEC Manufacturers Championship with one round still remaining.
Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1, commented: “This big success was only possible thanks to a great team effort. Mechanics, engineers and drivers and many more people behind the scenes were fighting hard for this, and have now been rewarded for the second time after 2015.
“This doesn’t prove only the 919 Hybrid’s potential, but also the excellence of the team. I want to thank everybody from my heart.”
Joining the victorious Porsche drivers on the Shanghai podium were the two teams of Toyota Gazoo Racing. The no. 6 TS050 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway finished a distant second 59.785 seconds behind the winners. Teammates Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi in the no. 5 Toyota Hybrid were third, completing the race one minute 06.038 seconds back.
Porsche’s second car, the no. 2 Hybrid featuring Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas, were classified fourth. The R18s of Audi Sport Team Joest were fifth and sixth both overall and in the LMP1 category.
Despite Porsche winning the manufacturers’ battle, the drivers’ championship remains up for grabs and it will be one of the major titles decided in Bahrain. Porsche’s Jani-Lieb-Dumas are the current leaders and favourites to claim the crown, but the Toyota trio of Kobayashi-Sarrazin-Conway are just 17 points behind and are the only other contenders.
Elsewhere in China, G-Drive Racing won the LMP2 class. They featured Will Stevens, Alex Brundle and Roman Rusinov in the cockpit of an Oreco 05 Nissan. In the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro), Ford Chip Ganassi Team with Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx at the wheel claimed the win in their Ford GT. Finally, in the LMGTE Am class, Aston Martin Racing topped the list. Mathias Lauda, Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy were competing in an Aston Martin Vantage V8 car.
Some of these top teams in each category will be the ones to look out for in Bahrain, when the title races go down the wire and will be decided once the chequered flag comes down.
The Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain is the only stop of the WEC in the Middle East. Scheduled for a 4pm start, it is one of only a few races that begins in the daylight and ends under floodlights at night.
Aside from the WEC, the Bahrain Motorsport Festival is also set to feature action in the CIK-FIA Karting World Championship and CIK-FIA Karting World Junior Championship, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East and the MRF Challenge. There will also be plenty to enjoy off the race track with the Action-Ha entertainment programme.
Tickets for the festival are now available. They cost BD20 apiece for the entire three-day weekend, while those aged 12 years old and below can get in for free. Tickets can be purchased online at BIC’s official website www.bahraingp.com, by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17-450000 or at Bahrain City Centre, either at the BIC stand or at Virgin Megastore.