World Endurance Bahrain: It All Comes Down to This!
Bahrain 8-Hour will decide 2024 World Endurance titles this weekend.
Eight thousand miles of racing over seven rounds on four continents later, the FIA World Endurance Championship comes down to this. The eight hour Bahrain blast through the afternoon into the dark on the demanding 15-turn three and a half-mile desert racetrack will determine who of Porsche, Toyota or Ferrari, and their drivers, will be World Champions after this weekend.
Six Different Hypercar Winners in 2024
And with six different Hypercar winners so far this season, and more different teams going quicker in early practice, anything can, and likely will happen. The 2024 WEC action has been unpredictable to say the least. The consistent Porsche Penske Motorsport number 6 crew André Lotterer, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, and also the only drivers to have won more than once this year, however arrive in the Gulf within touching distance of championship glory.
With 39 points on the table, and only being 35 clear of the Le Mans winning number Ferrari 50 crew Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, the fat lady has not even started to warm her singing voice yet. Never mind, Gazoo Toyota 8 duo, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries are also mathematically still in touch. So it’s certainly all to do this weekend!
Tighter at the Top in Maker’s Race
It’s tighter in the Manufacturers’ table, where Porsche leads Toyota by ten points, with Ferrari a further 17 adrift. Looking at local form, the five-time reigning WEC champion Gazoo crew’s Toyotas are yet to be beaten in Bahrain. Ferrari ended third in Bahrain last year, while Porsche struggled. So on that form, we’re in for a cracker.
Stopping the press, Porsche was faster than both Ferrari and Toyota in practice on Friday, with BMW ahead of the lot of them. Talking BMW, they’re in their own title fight with fellow season rookies Alpine for the best of the newcomers spot, while Peugeot and Cadillac are both still in contention. and Lamborghini id keen to impress.
Porsche, JOTA Are Already LMGT3, Privateer Champions
Bahrain is also Cadillac’s its final outing in its current team format. The raucous American machines will be run by already crowned 2024 privateer champions Hertz Team JOTA, which has its Porsche swansong against the similarly equipped Proton team in the desert. Porsche team Manthey PureRxcing has already claimed the LMGT3 title with Klaus Bachler, Aliaksandr Malykhin and Joel Sturm but there’s a six-way scrap for second, with BMW, Aston Martin and Lamborghini all in there too.
With practice already under way and Hyperpole Friday afternoon, racing starts 6 am Eastern Saturday 2 November.
Images: WEC