Race report
WEC Bahrain
Bahrain WEC: Toyota dominates after rivals collide
Toyota claimed a crushing victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship round in Bahrain after capitalising on early woes for its LMP1 rivals Rebellion and Ginetta.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Dec 15, 2019, 10:11 AM
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The #7 TS050 Hybrid of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez moved into the lead on the opening lap after Bruno Senna’s Rebellion R-13 and the #5 Ginetta of Charlie Robertson collided at Turn 2.
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From there on, the trio enjoyed a trouble-free run, securing their second victory of the 2019/20 season following their triumph at the Silverstone season opener in September.
The result propelled Conway, Kobayashi and Lopez into the lead of the championship, ahead of the #8 car of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley that finished a lap down in second.
Buemi picked up damage in the first-lap melee and dropped down the order, also requiring a change of front bodywork, but recovered sufficiently to seal a 1-2 finish for Toyota.
The polesitting Rebellion of Senna, Norman Nato and Gustavo Menezes completed the podium spots after its double whammy in the opening half of the race.
Senna had managed to recover from the hit he received from Robertson to run second in Hour 2, but an unscheduled visit to the garage to fix a gear selection issue left the Rebellion three laps down on the leading Toyota.
Both Ginettas retired from a race where the success handicaps had made them the early favourites for victory.
The #5 G60-LT-P1 of Robertson, Ben Hanley and Jordan King crawled to a halt in the fifth hour near Turn 9, while the other Ginetta driven by Guy Smith, Chris Dyson and Michael Simpson pulled into the pits in the penultimate hour.
LMP2: United claims maiden win
United Autosports claimed its first victory in the LMP2 class after Paul di Resta, Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque led throughout the eight hours in the #22 Oreca 07.
Di Resta, Hanson and Albuquerque finished 21.5s clear of the second-placed #38 JOTA Sport Oreca of Anthony Davidson, Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez, having at one point held a lead of nearly a minute.
The Jackie Chan DC Racing team, which is also operated by JOTA, finished third with Will Stevens, Gabriel Aubry and Ho-Pin Tung at the wheel of its #37 Oreca.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Roman Rusinov and Job van Uitert finished fourth in the one-off TDS Racing-run G-Drive Racing entry.
GTE: Aston beats Ferrari in Pro fight
Aston Martin came on top in a close scrap with Ferrari to claim its second GTE Pro win of the season.
The #71 Ferrari of Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon had been leading the race prior to the final round of stops, but quicker pitwork by the Aston Martin crew catapulted the #95 Vantage of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim into the lead.
Rigon did attempt to fight back and briefly passed Sorensen into turn 11, but the Dane was able to retake the spot soon after to seal the win for Aston.
The #71 car was handed a stop/go penalty with 30 minutes to go for spinning its wheels during one of its pitstops, ending any hope of victory, but it managed to hold onto second position after serving the punishment.
The sister #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado was asked to give the final podium spot back to the #97 Aston of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn after being held responsible for the contact between the two cars at Turn 1 in the final hour.
The GTE Pro battle turned out to be a two-horse race between Aston and Ferrari after Porsche’s race unravelled in the fourth hour.
Both 911 RSR-19s lost several laps in the garage for repairs, the #91 car of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz suffering a front-left puncture and Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen’s sister #92 machine having to pit with a damper failure.
Porsche, however, did claim top honours in GTE Am, courtesy of the #57 Project 1 Racing crew of Ben Keating, Larry ten Voorde and Jeroen Bleekemolen.
Second place went to the factory #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Ross Gunn and Darren Turner, which briefly held the lead before settling for second to equal its season-best result from Silverstone.
Gulf Racing drivers Ben Barker, Michael Wainwright and Andrew Watson made it two Porsches on the podium in third.
Race results:
Cla # Drivers Car Class Gap 1 7 Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
Jose Maria Lopez Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 2 8
Sébastien Buemi
Kazuki Nakajima
Brendon Hartley Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 3 1
Bruno Senna
Gustavo Menezes
Norman Nato Rebellion R13 LMP1 4 22
Philip Hanson
Filipe Albuquerque
Paul di Resta Oreca 07 LMP2 5 38
Roberto Gonzalez
Antonio Felix da Costa
Anthony Davidson Oreca 07 LMP2 6 37
Ho-Pin Tung
Gabriel Aubry
Will Stevens Oreca 07 LMP2 7 26
Roman Rusinov
Job Van Uitert
Jean-Eric Vergne Aurus 01 LMP2 8 36
Thomas Laurent
Andre Negrao
Pierre Ragues Alpine A470 LMP2 9 29
Frits van Eerd
Giedo van der Garde
Nyck de Vries Oreca 07 LMP2 10 42
Nicolas Lapierre
Antonin Borga
Alexandre Coigny Oreca 07 LMP2 11 33
Mark Patterson
Kenta Yamashita
Anders Fjordbach Oreca 07 LMP2 12 47
Roberto Lacorte
Andrea Belicchi
Giorgio Sernagiotto Dallara P217 LMP2 13 95
Marco Sorensen
Nicki Thiim Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE PRO 14 71
Davide Rigon
Miguel Molina Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 15 97
Alex Lynn
Maxime Martin Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE PRO 16 51
James Calado
Alessandro Pier Guidi Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 17 91
Gianmaria Bruni
Richard Lietz Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 18 57
Ben Keating
Larry ten Voorde
Jeroen Bleekemolen Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 19 92
Michael Christensen
Kevin Estre Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 20 98
Paul Dalla Lana
Darren Turner
Ross Gunn Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 21 86
Michael Wainwright
Andrew Watson
Benjamin Barker Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 22 83
François Perrodo
Emmanuel Collard
Nicklas Nielsen Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 23 54
Thomas Flohr
Francesco Castellacci
Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 24 77
Christian Ried
Riccardo Pera
Matt Campbell Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 25 70
Motoaki Ishikawa
Olivier Beretta
Kei Cozzolino Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 26 62
Bonamy Grimes
Johnny Mowlem
Charles Hollings Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 27 56
Egidio Perfetti
David Heinemeier Hansson
Matteo Cairoli Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 28 6
Michael Simpson
Chris Dyson
Guy Smith Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 29 90
Salih Yoluc
Charles Eastwood
Jonathan Adam Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 30 5
Charles Robertson
Ben Hanley
Jordan King Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 31 88
Khaled Al Qubaisi
Adrien de Leener
Thomas Preining Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM View full results
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