Toyota wraps up WEC with a round to spare in Bahrain

Conway and Co on top

Sébastien Buemi started from pole position in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid and led Conway through the first stint, the Briton running just a second behind. But although the lead swung between the pair, the #7 car proved easier on its Michelin tyres and that allowed the champions to take control. The result was confirmed by a slow pitstop for the #8, which briefly dropped it behind the only other Hypercar in the field, Alpine’s A480. But Brendon Hartley wasted little time gaining the position back to confirm yet another Toyota one-two and that ‘historic’ first title of the new era.

The result means Conway and Co are 15 points ahead of Buemi, Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima with just the season finale to go. The WEC remains in Bahrain this coming weekend for another enduro, this time over eight hours.

 “I’m very happy with the win,” said Conway. “It’s good to get maximum points and secure the world championship for the team. It was a great job by all the crew, and my team-mates performed really well all day. In my stint it was a case of managing the tyres from the start. There were a lot of unknowns because we have never taken tyres so far into a race before, but it all worked out well. It’s a positive day for us in the drivers’ championship but it’s still all to play for next week, so we need to work hard to clinch it.”

The Alpine, which is a ‘grandfathered’ LMP1 rather than a pure-bred Hypercar, finished a lap down in third. Matthieu Vaxiviere, Andre Negrao and Nicolas Lapierre were never in contention for victory, largely thanks to rules that mean the Gibson-powered car can only run stints a lap shorter than the Toyotas. The French car was also delayed by a throttle issue in the early part of the race.

WRT adds to its Le Mans glory

In the wake of its surprising dominance at the Le Mans 24 Hours back in August, WRT once again proved to be the class of the much more competitive LMP2 field. Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi took a solid lead from the third stint to claim the class win in Bahrain as the WEC newcomer bids for a world title to complete a remarkable maiden season in LMP2.

The British Jota Sport team took a podium two-three as pole position winner Tom Blomqvist passed United Autosports’ Filipe Albuquerque to claim second position in the car he shares with Stoffel Vandoorne and Sean Gelael. Antonio Felix da Costa in Jota’s #38 entry also got by Albuquerque to shuffle the United car off the podium. Da Costa shares with Roberto Gonzalez and Anthony Davidson, the 42-year-old Briton announcing via Twitter after the race that the Bahrain 8 Hours will be his last as a professional racing driver.

Porsche has the balance over Ferrari

Like the WEC’s top class, GTE Pro has fallen on fallow times with just four cars lining up to battle for class honours in Bahrain – and the two works Porsche 911 RSRs had the legs of AF Corse’s Ferrari 488 GTE Evo pair, thanks largely it seems to a clear Balance of Performance advantage.

The artificial means of equalising performance in the GTE class remains contentious and left the Ferrari drivers annoyed and powerless to stop a Porsche 1-2 in the desert. The result means race winners Kevin Estre and Neel Jani are just one point behind Briton James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi with the second part of the Bahrain double-header to run. Calado was vocal in the need for a rebalancing before next weekend if Porsche isn’t to be handed the 2021 world title “on a plate”. But like Toyota in Hypercar, for whichever of the great marques prevail the title surely has to be considered of limited value.

Sussex-based TF Sport wins GTE Am

Texan Ben Keating held his end up as the fastest Bronze-graded driver to anchor a fine class victory for TF Sport in GTE Am. Based less than an hour away from Goodwood, Tom Ferrier’s team scored its first victory since its landmark Le Mans success last year, in a result that was also the first WEC glory for Aston Martin this season.

The Vantage AMR driven by Keating, Felipe Fraga and Dylan Pereira finished just five seconds ahead of the Dempsey-Proton Porsche helmed by Matt Campbell for the chase to the finish. As in GTE Pro, AF Corse found itself off the pace with Francois Perrodo, Nicklass Nielsen and Alessio Rovera finishing down in fifth in class. The trio hold a 21.5-point lead over the TF Sport drivers ahead of the final round.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.