How the WEC's heavyweight duel reached its controversial flashpoint
The Ferrari versus Porsche fight for the FIA World Endurance Championship's GTE Pro title had been a finely-poised affair, right up until Alessandro Pier Guidi's punt on Michael Christensen in the closing stages of the Bahrain 8 Hours handed Ferrari a provisional title, pending Porsche's appeal. Here's how the controversy played out.
The second leg of the Bahrain World Endurance Championship double-header began in acrimony and ended in the same way as Ferrari and Porsche duked it out for GTE Pro honours on the track and in the stewards’ room. The shame was that the controversy bookended a fabulous motor race in which it was difficult to call a winner at any point, even after the title contenders came together with 11 minutes of the eight-hour race remaining.
The clash between the Ferrari driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi and Michael Christensen’s Porsche has for the moment handed the crown to the Italian driver and teammate James Calado in the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. Championship honours could, however, yet go the way of Porsche and Kevin Estre and Neel Jani in the #92 911 RSR they shared with Christensen last weekend.
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