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Ferrari loses second place in WEC Bahrain race for exceeding tyre allocation

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The second-placed factory Ferrari has been penalised for exceeding its tyre allocation in Saturday’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain and has dropped out of the points.

Ferrari’s #51 499P Le Mans Hypercar shared by Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi received a penalty of 4m55s for using two more tyres than the permitted maximum of 26 allowed for qualifying and the race at an eight-hour event.

The time penalty was converted to two racing laps, dropping the car to 14th in the classification, and means that Peugeot has notched up its first podium of the season.

Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller and Jean-Eric Vergne are now classified third in the Bahrain 8 Hours aboard the #93 9X8 2024 LMH, equalling the French manufacturer’s best result notched up at Monza in 2023 since its return to top-flight endurance racing in 2022.

It also means that new 2024 WEC Hypercar drivers’ champions Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre move into the points with 10th place.

Ferrari’s penalty cannot be appealed.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: Ferrari

Hypercar tyre supplier Michelin has also been fined for not declaring the correct list of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags and barcodes 48 hours before the start of the race meeting in Bahrain as per the series rules.

These were not supplied to the organisers until 11:00 on Saturday, just three hours before the start of the race.

Michelin has been fined €15,000 with €10,000 suspended.

The French tyre company will be allowed to appeal the decision of the stewards.



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Toyota wins thriller to secure manufacturers’ crown, Porsche seals drivers’

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Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer wrapped up the World Endurance Championship Hypercar drivers’ title in the eight-hour Bahrain season finale, but Toyota snatched the manufacturers’ crown from Porsche.

A scintillating final stint battle between Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi and Penske Porsche Motorsport’s Matt Campbell, in which the Swiss came out on top, determined the race and the manufacturers’ title.

A physical pass from Buemi at Turn 10, which he later redressed before taking back the position, secured victory in the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH he shared with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa.

The polesitting crew continued a winning run for Toyota at the Sakhir International Circuit dating back to 2016, but this had appeared anything but probable at junctures in a race controlled for large parts by Ferrari.

Buemi was turned around after 20 minutes by an errant Corvette while leading, and with Buemi on board was 10th when racing resumed after a safety car with 90 minutes remaining.

But Buemi made serene progress, evading mishaps elsewhere, and got the crucial pass complete on Campbell before pulling away to win by 27.539s over the factory #51 Ferrari 499P LMH of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: Andreas Beil

It made up for disappointment for the sister #7 Toyota crew, which retired with fuel pump problems that ended the slender title hopes of Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries.

The car they shared with Mike Conway had briefly taken the lead in de Vries’s hands during hour five, before the issue that had reared its head in the third hour with Kobayashi at the wheel sent the car tumbling down the order.

Giovinazzi ended up second after a final lap move on Campbell, who shared the #5 PPM 963 with Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki, after Ferrari had appeared to be in the box seat for much of the race.

Giovinazzi twice passed the #12 Jota Porsche 963 for the lead, before the privateer car’s challenge for victory was ended by a puncture for Will Stevens, but its own challenge fell away after it needed more fuel at its final stop than those who had topped off under a virtual safety car triggered by a failure in Paul di Resta’s Peugeot 9X8 LMH.

Mikkel Jensen upheld honour for the French manufacturer by holding off the attentions of Paul-Loup Chatin’s Alpine A424 LMDh to equal Peugeot’s best finish of the season in fourth alongside Nico Muller and Jean-Eric Vergne,

A 35-point advantage heading into the race, with 38 on the table, meant the title-winning PPM drivers were in a comfortable position and could seal the title despite an eventful race to 11th.

After Vanthoor’s 963 LMDh was elbowed off the road on the opening lap, dropping to 15th, the car had briefly run second but a drive-through penalty for a full course yellow infringement and an additional five-second penalty for overtaking outside the circuit limits consigned them to finishing outside the points.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P pit stop action

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P pit stop action

Photo by: Ferrari

However, that mattered little due to problems for its only remaining rivals. After the #7 Toyota’s demise, the factory #50 Ferrari’s hopes of a remarkable turnaround were finally ended by a left-rear puncture in the seventh hour when Charles Milesi’s spinning Alpine tagged Nicklas Nielsen.

The Le Mans-winning crew also comprising Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina also finished outside the points in 12th.

The lone-remaining BMW M V8 Hybrid of Marco Wittmann, Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello took sixth after its sister car suffered a drivetrain failure, while a quiet race for the sole Cadillac V. Series-R of Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn yielded seventh.

After the puncture denied Stevens, Norman Nato and Callum Ilott, who had led for much of the second hour, the sister Jota Porsche of Phil Hanson, Jenson Button and Oliver Rasmussen finished eighth ahead of the customer Ferrari 499P in which Robert Kubica was partnered by Yi Yifei and Robert Shwartzman.

Milesi, sharing with Jules Gounon and Mick Schumacher, withstood contact from Laurens Vanthoor to hold onto the final point in 10th.

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Ferrari wins LMGT3 war against Corvette

Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and Francois Heriau delivered a thrilling victory in the LMGT3 class in their #55 AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GT3 following an enthralling battle the TF Sport’s Corvette Z06 LMGT3R.

They finished 3.022s clear of Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy to narrowly deny the British squad its first win since switching from Aston Martin to Corvette.

The #81 Corvette, joined on the rostrum by the sister car of Daniel Juncadella, Sebastien Baud and Hiroshi Koizumi, had led for much of the race after a surging first stint from van Rompuy to get amongst the United Autosport McLarens that had locked out the front row.

It remained in victory contention even after a remarkable sequence of events in the seventh hour that allowed Rovera into the lead for the first time, as the Italian capitalised on battling between Alex Riberas and Rahel Frey to vault from third into the lead in the space of a few corners.

Eastwood battled past the sister Ferrari of Davide Rigon, that had benefitted from the same exchange to briefly hold second, and then took the lead back from Rovera after a thrilling duel that involved going side-by-side around much of the lap.

But Rovera emerged ahead after the final stops and Eastwood, racing days after the passing of his father, was unable to close in before the finish.

Juncadella held off the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan of Matteo Cairoli to finish third, while the title-winning Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm and Alex Malykhin finished ninth after a penalty for an FCY violation.

Photos from Bahrain Race

WEC Bahrain 8 Hours — Race results



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Porsche not taking conservative approach in WEC finale in Bahrain

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Porsche has insisted that it is not going into Saturday’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain with a conservative approach as it looks to seal the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles. 

The German marque will start the Bahrain 8 Hours “looking to maximise its finishing position” with both its 963 LMDhs, according to Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid.

That comment comes despite the fact that Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer in the #6 PPM entry only need to finish ninth to secure the title. 

“Our feedback to everyone is: ‘don’t do anything differently to what we have been doing’,” said Diuguid on the eve of the 2024 WEC series finale.

“We haven’t gone points racing at a single event this year and we are not going to go points racing on Saturday either. That’s what’s got us into this position.

“We are going to do what we have been doing the whole season: let’s go out there and try to beat them [the opposition].”

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh programme at Porsche Motorsport, added that the strategy is “not so different from our normal approach”. 

But he explained that Porsche and PPM could modify its plans over the course of the eight hours.

“We have to be flexible and have to react to whatever the race presents,” said Kuratle. 

Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach suggested that it would be possible to over-think its strategy going into the race in Bahrain. 

“If we tried to predict everything, we would have to go through every scenario, and it would be too much of a puzzle for the team,” he said. 

Porsche will be taking an approach that it described as “situational”. 

“If you are leading the race and your strongest competitor is out, obviously you are not going to take any risks,” explained Laudenbach. 

“And if someone is coming up on you with nothing to lose, you might handle it differently than if you are racing your direct competition for the championship, because they will be making sure they don’t damage their car as well.”

Porsche’s task in the manufacturers’ standings is more difficult than in the drivers’ championship. 

It is only 10 points ahead whereas Vanthoor, Estre and Lotterer have a 35-point advantage with only 38 up for grabs.

A victory for second-placed Toyota would give it the manufacturers’ title even if Porsche finishes second.

Toyota took the point for pole position courtesy of Brendon Hartley in the Japanese manufacturers’ #8 entry, but that will have no bearing on the destination of the title if one of the GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars wins the race. 

But it could prove crucial in other scenarios, however. 

If the best Toyota takes second and the best PPM entry fourth, for example, the two manufacturers would be tied on 179 points. 

The Japanese manufacturer would then take the title on countback by virtue of more second places.

The drivers of the #6 963 have 150 points going into the race in Bahrain to the 115 of second-placed Ferrari crew of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina. 

Toyota drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries have 113 points and are also mathematically in with a chance of the title. 

Porsche has 161 points in the manufacturers’ standings to Toyota’s 151, while Ferrari on 134 points is nominally in title contention. 

The Bahrain 8 Hours kicks off at 2pm local time and 11am GMT.

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It wasn’t a fairytale season

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Jenson Button was standing at an airport baggage claim in late 2008 when he got a call that the F1 team he drove for was shutting down, and he’d lost his ride. He soon signed with Brawn GP, a team that only existed for one year, 2009 — then drove to his first and only championship in a season many call an F1 fairytale. Does he ever step back and go: “That was me — I won the fairytale season”?

“No,” Button told Motorsport. “Because it wasn’t a fairytale season. It was one of the toughest years of my life.”

Button won six of the first seven F1 races in 2009, accounting for more than a third of the 17-race season. He didn’t win another race that year, but held onto the points lead to take the title. Button said the season was “great at the start,” but quickly, anything less than perfection became a disappointment.

“You always want to do better,” Button said. “So even after winning three races, not being quickest in a practice session was a failure. Not being on pole in qualifying was a failure.

“I got to the point where I put so much pressure on myself after those seven races, [if] I got to a race where the car didn’t work, I couldn’t get the best out of it. My head was in the wrong place already. Everything was a failure apart from a win, whereas I should have been at the point where: ‘Well, we’re not quickest, but I got to get the best out of the car, and finishing on the podium is still a win because people aren’t really taking many points off of us.’”

Button, 44, is 15 years older now, and more than a decade clear of his full-time F1 career. (We spoke during the debut of a special Mobil1 livery for his Hertz Team Jota LMDh car, his recent years having taken him to WEC.) But when Button looks back at his Formula 1 era, he thinks he’d handle that pressure “a hundred times better” today, and sees similar patterns in this new era of young drivers.

“I feel that a lot of drivers that have gone into F1 expecting great things,” Button told Motorsport. “If it hasn’t happened immediately, their head drops.

“I think trying to control your emotions and get your head in the right space is very difficult for youngsters in motorsport, and it’s very easy for them to do a year in the sport and get thrown out. That’s it, game over. Where do you go from there? It’s very difficult to pick yourself back up from that point.”

To hear Button dig deeper into the perils of getting a seat too young, the downside of being a “smooth” driver, the real story behind his harrowing helmet malfunction during the 2004 German Grand Prix, and more, watch the full episode of Behind the Visor below or on YouTube.

Watch: Jenson Button Breaks Down His Biggest Racing Moments



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Toyota takes pole to close points gap on Porsche

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Toyota claimed pole position for the Bahrain World Endurance Championship finale to move one point closer to Porsche in the manufacturers’ standings.

Brendon Hartley took the top spot in the Hyperpole session on Friday evening aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar, his first pole since this race last year.

It means that Toyota goes into Saturday’s Bahrain 8 Hours only nine points behind Porsche in the manufacturers’ classification.

Hartley’s 1m46.714s gave him the top spot by three tenths from team-mate Nyck de Vries, who lapped in 1m47.037s aboard the sister Toyota.

“We had a tough day yesterday and were not happy with the few things,” said Hartley.

“I learnt from quali one where I didn’t get the tyre prep quite right and then the car came alive in Hyperpole.”

Antonio Giovinazzi took third with a 1m47.080s, only four hundredths behind the second Toyota, in the best of the factory Ferrari 499P LMHs.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Top Porsche was the customer Proton 963 LMDh in the hands of Neel Jani, who was a further two tenths back on a 1m47.234s.

Antonio Fuoco took fifth on the grid in the second of the AF Corse-run factory Ferraris with a 1m47.527s.

That put him just ahead of the championship-leading factory Penske-run Porsche in which Kevin Estre took sixth with a 1m47.542s.

The second of the Penske cars was seventh in Matt Campbell’s hands, while Norman Nato was eighth in the only one of the two Jota customer Porsches to make it through to Hyperpole for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

The two BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs brought up the rear of the times, Dries Vanthoor ahead of Robin Frijns.

Frijns, however, did a time lost to a track limits infringement that would have put him seventh.

Cadillac failed to make it through to Hyperpole with its solo V-Series.R LMDh run by Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex Lynn ending up 13th after only posting a representative time when the chequered flag had already fallen.

Both Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs and Alpine A424 LMDhs were knocked out at the first stage of qualifying.

#95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Joshua Caygill, Nicolas Pino, Marino Sato

#95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Joshua Caygill, Nicolas Pino, Marino Sato

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The United Autosports team locked out the LMGT3 front row as McLaren took its second class pole of the season after the Inception Racing IMSA SportsCar Championship squad took qualifying honours at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

Josh Caygill grabbed the top spot in the times in the best of the McLaren 720S GT3 EVOs when he lapped in 2m02.201s, just two thousandths of second quicker than team-mate James Cottingham’s 2m02.203s.

The McLarens ended up more than a tenth clear of Francois Heriau, who posted a 2m02.367s in the best of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s.

Sarah Bovy, the only driver to take two poles in LMGT3 this year, ended up fourth in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Alex Malykhin, who has already been crowned LMGT3 champion with team-mates Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler, took fifth in the Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 GT3-R despite carrying 35kg of success ballast.

Both WRT BMW M4 GT3s failed to make the cut for Hyperpole in the hands of Darren Leung and Ahmad Al Harthy.

The Bahrain 8 Hours, the eighth and final round of the 2024 WEC, begins at 14:00 local time on Saturday.

Photos from Bahrain Friday Practice & Qualifying

WEC Bahrain 8 Hours — Qualifying results



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Peugeot tops final practice in season finale weekend

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Peugeot returned to the top of the times in final practice for this weekend’s season finale of the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain. 

Jean-Eric Vergne set the pace in the Friday morning Free Practice 1 session aboard the #93 Peugeot 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercar, following up on Paul di Resta’s table-topping performance in FP1 on Thursday.

The Frenchman’s 1m49.443s set at the beginning of the 60-minute session gave him a margin of two tenths over second-placed Yifei Ye, who got down to a 1m40.662s aboard the customer AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P LMH. 

Lamborghini took third place courtesy of a 1m50.014s from Daniil Kvyat in the solo Iron Lynx SC63 LMDh. 

Peugeot, which has been given a Balance of Performance break for the Bahrain event, backed up its front-running FP3 pace with fourth position from di Resta in the second of the 9X8 LMHs. 

The ex-Formula 1 driver’s 1m50.028s put him just one hundredth of a second behind the Lamborghini. 

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, #93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, #93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The two Alpine A424 LMDhs finished fifth and sixth: Mick Schumacher’s 1m50.612s giving him a half second margin over Ferdinand Habsburg in the sister car run by the Signatech squad.

Antonio Fuoco placed the best of the factory Ferrari 499Ps in seventh and the sister AF-run works car jumped to eighth late in the session in Antonio Giovinazzi’s hands.

Fuoco only completed seven laps before pitting because of a suspected issue with a cable in the front Motor Generator Unit (MGU) and the car did not return to the track.

The two customer Jota Porsche 963 LMDhs rounded out the top 10 with Norman Nato just shading Oliver Rasmussen. 

Toyota took 11th with the fastest of its pair of GR010 HYBRID LMHs with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel, while the championship-leading factory Porsche 963 was 12th in the hands of Andre Lotterer.

BMW, which led the way in FP2 on Thursday, ended up 17th and 18th with its pair of WRT-run M Hybrid V8s.

The #92 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3-R took top spot in LMGT3 with Alex Malykhin at the wheel. 

The Belarusian, who claimed the LMGT3 class title last time out in the WEC at Fuji in September with team-mates Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm, set a 2m03.987s lap to end up just five hundredths quicker than Arnold Robin in the fastest of the Auto Sport Promotion Lexus RC F GT3s. 

Qualifying for the Bahrain 8 Hours kicks off at 16:00 local time on Friday.

WEC Bahrain — Free Practice 3 results



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Porsche to introduce evo joker update for WEC and IMSA in 2025

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Porsche has revealed it is planning to introduce an evo joker update on its 963 LMDh for next year — at the same time as revealing it has already used one.

The performance upgrades for the German manufacturer’s campaigns in the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar next year are focussed on the front suspension, as were those introduced on the 963 prior to its victorious start to the 2024 season at the Daytona 24 Hours in January. 

Porsche had previously not confirmed that it had taken one of the five jokers allowed to each manufacturer over the initial five-year lifecycle for an LMDh.

Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh programme at Porsche Motorsport, explained that the updates planned for next year represent a bigger change than those introduced for 2024.

“It is another step because we didn’t know what we wanted to do at that time — it is a further evolution,” he said. 

“From this year to next year there will be some [changes to] mounting points and some hardware; there are more parts involved.

“We need more adjustability in the car, a wider range, more buttons for the engineers to press.” 

Urs Kuratle, Head Porsche LMDh

Urs Kuratle, Head Porsche LMDh

Photo by: Porsche

The changes for 2024 were more subtle, according to Kuratle. He had previously talked about updates to sensors without revealing that they constituted a joker. 

Kuratle has now confirmed that Porsche had to take a joker for the changes that included an upgrade of the front brake pressure sensors.

Porsche has yet to get written confirmation from the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, which jointly run the WEC and IMSA, to push on with the latest development, Kuratle said.

Should that be forthcoming, the new parts will be on its factory Porsche Penske Motorsport cars and the customer JDC-Miller MotorSports IMSA entry at the US governing body’s official sanction test at Daytona on 15-17 November. 

The rule makers do not disclose which manufacturers have been granted a joker nor communicate that information with the other manufacturers. 

A change in this policy is understood to have been discussed in the relevant technical working group during the summer.

It is believed that Porsche is the only manufacturer of an LMDh to have played a joker so far. 

A major upgrade of the 963’s twin-turbo V8 engine in the pipeline was planned for introduction over the course of this season, but was shelved after its cars, both customer and privateer, successfully came through the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. 

Toyota, Peugeot and Ferrari have all undertaken upgrades of their Le Mans Hypercars since their respective introductions in 2021, ’22 and ’23. 

There has been no confirmation from Toyota and Peugeot on how many they have used, but it is understood that Ferrari has only invoked one. 

This was centred on rear brake cooling and came on stream for this year’s Interlagos WEC round in July. 

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BMW tops FP2 from Porsche

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


BMW topped the times in second free practice for this weekend’s World Endurance Championship curtain-closer in Bahrain.

Dries Vanthoor posted the fastest time in Free Practice 2  at the wheel of the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh run by the WRT squad.

He set his session best of 1m48.257s early on in the 90-minute Thursday evening session, like all the leading runners, to end just five hundredths clear of second-placed Matt Campbell in the best of the factory Porsche 963 LMDhs.

The Australian had topped the times with a 1m48.311s in the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry before Vanthoor supplanted him at the head of the order.

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It was the second time in two races that the improving BMW LMDh has emerged fastest in a practice session.

Vanthoor was also quickest in FP2 at Fuji in September when he and team-mates Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann went on to secure the best WEC result for the M Hybrid with second place in the race.

Ferrari took third position in FP2 on the Bahrain International Circuit with Antonio Giovinazzi aboard the #51 499P Le Mans Hypercar run by the factory AF Corse team.

The Italian’s 1m48.472s was just two tenths off the pace of the BMW.

Nyck de Vries took fourth position in the best of the Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMHs with a 1m48.647s, while Antonio Fuoco jumped to fifth at the end of the flurry of early-session quick laps in the second of the Ferraris with a 1m48.701s.

Sebastien Buemi rounded out the top six in the #8 Toyota with a 1m48.736s, which was still within half a second of the pace.

Robin Frijns claimed seventh in the second BMW ahead of the best of the customer Jota Porsches with  Oliver Rasmussen at the wheel.

Proton Competition’s privateer 963 was next up in ninth in Neel Jani’s hands, while Ferdinand Habsburg completed the top 10 in the #35 Alpine A424 LMDh.

The solo Ganassi Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh was 11th with Alex Lynn at the wheel, while the championship-leading #6 Porsche was the last car within a second of the pace in 12th with Kevin Estre driving.

Daniil Kvyat took 16th in the Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 LMDh, and the two Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs brought up the rear of the Hypercar class order after the French manufacturer had taken FP1 honours.

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

The LMGT3 class was headed by the #87 Lexus RC F GT3 run by the Auto Sport Promotion team, Esteban Masson leading the way by six tenths on 2m02.246s.

Second place went to Hiroshi Koizumi in the #82 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R with a 2m02.901. Francois Heriau got within a tenth of the Chevy driver to take third.

The final, one-hour practice session begins at 12:00 local time before qualifying for Saturday’s Bahrain 8 Hours kicks off at 16:00.

Bahrain — Free Practice 2



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Porsche open to flexible driver line-up approach in six-hour WEC races

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Porsche Penske Motorsport could modify its plan to run just two drivers in the regular six-hour World Endurance Championship races next year. 

The team will go into its 2025 WEC campaign with a “flexible approach” after opting to downsize from three to two drivers in each of the factory Porsche 963 LMDhs, PPM managing director Jonathan Diuguid has revealed to Motorsport.com. 

That could involve the WEC squad drafting in drivers from its IMSA SportsCar Championship operation if it feels that a three-driver roster makes sense for certain tracks. 

Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell are scheduled to bolster the regular WEC crews for the Le Mans 24 Hours centrepiece round of the series as well as the 10- and eight-hour races in Qatar and Bahrain that bookend the season. 

They will respectively join Michael Christensen and Julien Andlauer in the #5 963 and Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre in #6. 

“We have significant flexibility how we approach the season,” explains Diuguid.

“There is only one conflict, which is Spa [and Laguna Seca in May], and outside of that if we think it was the wrong decision for tracks A, B or C, we can go back to three drivers pretty easily.”

Race winner #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Race winner #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Diuguid pointed to the Austin round in September as a potential race at which bringing in a third driver is a possibility because of likely hot conditions.

He explained that Penske’s “one-team” approach across the WEC and IMSA gives it this flexibility and was also a key factor in its decision to go to two drivers for five of the eight WEC rounds next year.  

For that reason Diuguid believes that PPM will not be compromised at Le Mans, as well as at Qatar and Bahrain, when a third driver is added. 

“A big part of our decision is that we are one global operation,” said Diuguid. 

“All of our drivers know all of the engineers and processes, and the cars and tyres are the exact same with the exception of a few small aero differences [resulting from the different windtunnels used for homologation in the two series]. 

“It is not as though we are taking someone from an LMP2 and putting them in the car — it will be someone who is used to racing the 963.”

Diuguid suggested that PPM would not have opted for line-ups of just two permanent drivers if this option wasn’t available to it. 

“If PPM was only racing in the WEC I don’t think we would have taken this decision; going in with only two drivers per car would probably not have been the right thing to do because you would have to bring someone in for Qatar, Le Mans and Bahrain and get them up to speed,” he said.

“But because we are racing in IMSA that isn’t a problem.”

Diuguid explained that running just two drivers offers an incremental gain “as the WEC gets tighter and tighter”.

“We think there is a gain to be made because there is always a set-up compromise with three drivers,” he explained.

“Now we will only have to have two drivers run through our long-run tyre plan to understand the degradation profiles. 

“We will be able to prepare for the race a lot better with the information we have.”

Porsche has followed the lead set by the Ganassi Cadillac team, which fielded Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn as a duo in its single V-Series.R for the shorter WEC races this year. 

There was a move led by BMW to mandate three-driver line-ups for all WEC races in the Hypercar division, which was rejected by a majority of participants.

The Jota team that has taken over the factory Cadillac programme is expected to run three drivers in each of its V-Series.Rs next year, while it is unclear if any other manufacturer will opt for two drivers for the six-hour races. 

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