The 8h of Bahrain once again crowns Toyota Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Champion of the FIA World Endurance Championship, with the 2023 season coming to an end recording the triumph of the #8 of Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa among the Hypercars ahead of the twin #7 of Conway/ Kobayashi/Lopez, while the podium is completed by Ferrari at the end of a great and sweaty fight against Jota’s Porsche.
In Sakhir there was no history in the main category, unlike the always lively LMP2 and LMGTE AM, both making their last appearance in the series and won by Team WRT (with a double) and finally by the Iron Dames.
Photo by: Shameem Fahath
The start of the 8 Hours of Bahrain
HYPERCAR: Toyota without rivals
The announced dominance by the Toyotas materialized almost immediately and the only problem the GR010 Hybrids had was the collision received at the start by the #7, sent into a spin by the Cadillac at the first braking.
The #8 was thus able to escape undisturbed, while its sister car climbed back up the slope, grabbing the podium in just 60′; from there it was immediately clear that the Japanese-German team crews had no need to push, also because the pace set in the opening hours allowed them to put a large gap on their opponents.
After the Constructors’ title achieved at Fuji, comes the encore with the Drivers for Sébastien Buemi/Ryo Hirakawa/Brendon Hartley, who obtain the second victory of the season ahead of the much more successful Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez, who however pay for the setback at Le Mans and the problems of Portimao, having to surrender to his colleagues.
The only ones who could mathematically undermine the Toyotas were the guys from Ferrari AF Corse; if the 499Ps confirmed themselves as the second strength of the lot, it is also true that the pace did not allow them or anyone else to even think about fighting against the GR010s.
So the most interesting duels developed for the last step of the podium, which went after several knocks and brawls (even within the family!) to the Red #50 of Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen, which ended the year as it had begun, but sweating for a long time to take a 3rd place which mitigates the suffering of Maranello.
Photo by: Ferrari
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
In this sense, it was Jota’s Porsche that had a bitter taste, having managed to jump ahead of the Ferraris in the sixth hour, only to find itself behind again due to errors and a Drive Through. At the last stop the 963 #38 of Ye/Stevens/Da Costa was overtaken by the 499P #50, but managed to get the better of the #51 of Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi, which in turn was also overtaken by the official Porsche #6 prepared by Team Penske for Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor, authors of a truly excellent second part of the race.
The race of the latter’s teammates, Christensen/Cameron/Makowiecki with the 963 #5, was more difficult, sanctioned a couple of times with second penalties for infringements committed on the track and therefore left out of the duels for the Top5, having to settle for the seventh place.
The private 963 #99 of Proton Competition in the hands of Bruni/Tincknell/Jani had also been competitive for a long time and in contention with the official Penske cars, but a few technical problems suffered in the second half caused it to drop to tenth.
The Peugeot race was impalpable, only eighth and ninth with Duval/Menezes/Muller (#94) and Di Resta/Jensen/Vergne (#93) without ever firing a shot. The 9X8 LMH project without wing goes to the archives at the end of a year and a half of worries and sweats, now leaving room for a car with a rear wing, different wheels and revised aerodynamics, hoping that it can have its say and not appear only for its shapes singular.
However, Cadillac was missing one opportunity for its best qualifying of the season, ruined at the start by Earl Bamber’s desperate braking; ended up on top of the Toyota #7, the V-Series.R also shared by Westbrook/Lynn was punished with 1′ of Stop&Go, slipping back and remaining there, preceding only the unpresentable Vanwall of ByKolles of the Guerrieri/Vautier/Briscoe trio, without any faults if their Vandervell 680 doesn’t work and continues to go in and out of the pits due to problems, as happened at the end.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
#41 Team WRT Oreca 07 – Gibson: Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz
LMP2: title and double for WRT
In the LMP2 Class comes a well-deserved double for Team WRT, gained only in the last hour and at the end of a tough and hard-fought final race for the Orecas in the top endurance series, given that from next year we will only see them in action at the 24h of Le Mans.
Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and Rui Andrade with the 07-Gibson #41 could not have fulfilled their title dream in the best possible way, first ahead of their teammates in the #31 Frijns/Habsburg/Gelael, mocked by a slow last pit stop and overtaken by their colleagues .
The Jota #28 of Rasmussen/Fittipaldi/Heinemeier-Hansson surrenders, having started with hopes of success in the championship, but ended a positive season with a good third place, beating the Prema of Viscaal/Ugran/Correa (#9) and Bortolotti /Pin/Kvyat (#63), among the top protagonists and then slipped to fourth and fifth place.
Costa/Smiechowski/Scherer finished sixth on the Inter Europol Competition #34, followed by the Alpine #36 of Milesi/Canal/Vaxivière and the United Autosports #23 (Blomqvist/Pierson/Jarvis) and #22 (Albuquerque/Lubin/Hanson), between the disappointments of the day.
The Alpine #35 (Negrao/Rojas/Caldwell) came in tenth, retiring at the end after also leading the Vector Sport #10 of Aubry/Cullen/Kaiser.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
#85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR – 19: Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey
LMGTE AM: Iron Dames, finally!
The LMGTE AM Class ends in the best possible way, with the usual great battle which, it must be said, finally sees the Iron Dames prevail.
After many unsuccessful or bitterly failed attempts, Sarah Bovy/Michelle Gatting/Rahel Frey took the first step of the podium in the last race with the Porsche GTE.
And to say that for two thirds of the race the 911 #60 of Iron Lynx was leading the operations, but their colleagues Matteo Cressoni and Alessio Picariello were forced to raise the white flag 2h20′ from the end, as Claudio Schiavoni was not he was well (best wishes for a speedy recovery!) and therefore couldn’t get behind the wheel.
The girls then regained the leadership, crossing the finish line in front of the Aston Martins amidst tears, smiles, hugs and well-deserved cheers, also breathing a big sigh of relief for the comeback final of the Vantage #777 of D’Station Racing-TF Sport driven by Stevenson /Fujii/Talbot, satisfied with second place.
Third is the Vantage #98 of NorthWest AMR-Heart of Racing in the hands of Mancinelli/Riberas/James, also because the #25 of ORT by TF Sport of the Eastwood/Al Harthy/Dinan trio suffered a breakdown 25′ from the start conclusion.
At Ferrari the 488s suffered and the best was fourth thanks to Rigon/Flohr/Castellacci (#54 AF Corse), ahead of Serra/Masson/Kimura on the #57 of Kessel-CarGuy Racing, also because in the last part of the race the Prancing Horse cars managed to pass the Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche #77 of Andlauer/Ried/Pedersen.
This time, the #33 Corvette of Keating/Varrone/Catsburg fails to make a comeback, despite already having the titles in its pocket, while the Top10 also includes the Porsches of Barker/Wainwright/Pera (#86 GR Racing) and Cairoli/Hyett/Jeannette ( #56 Project 1-AO).
A race to forget for the other two Ferraris of AF Corse, with the #83 of Rovera/Wadoux/Pérez Companc ninth and the #21 of Dezoteux/Mann/Cozzolino eleventh, collecting a lot of errors and penalties.
#WEC #Bahrain #Toyota #World #Championship #Ferrari #podium