FIA Wec, victory and title for Toyota in Bahrain with Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa

Only a titanic undertaking could allow the Ferrari 499P Hypercar to snatch the drivers’ title from its rivals Toyota GR010 Hybrid in the last race of FIA WEC in Sahkir. Unfortunately, the feat did not materialize and the Japanese company also won the 8 Hours of Bahrain with Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa. With this victory the trio won the 2023 drivers’ titleafter a season at the top.

BAMBER “KAMIKAZE” SINKS THE CADILLAC

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The race was effectively decided already at the first corner when the Cadillac V-Series R of Earl Bamberbraking for a long time, hit Mike Conway’s Toyota GR 010 Hybrid sending him into a spin and making him start again at the back of the peloton. The collision then caused further chaos in the rear, generating a second contact at the next bend between the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Hypercar of Tristan Vautierthe Oreca 07 Gibson Alpine Elf LMP2 by Matthieu Vaxiviere and the Oreca 07 Gibson United Autosports LMP2 by Tom Blomqvist. All three they managed to start again at the back like Conway, who managed to get back into the top positions after six minutes with a furious comeback. It went much worse for Vanwall who started an ordeal of pit stops that lasted for the entire racefalling to the back of the group.

TOYOTA DOMINATION

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Earl Bamber, already backlogged after the initial contact, he lost any chance of a podium with one punitive stop-and-go imposed on him by Race Direction who dropped him to the bottom of the Hypercar rankings. Soon the Toyota GR010 Hybrid number 7 he recovered second positionbut without ever managing to worry Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa who commanded easily for almost the entire race. The Ferrari 499Ps have been very busy, with Alessandro Pier Guidi author of a splendid “stint” which allowed him to occupy the position for a long time third place in front of the “twin” of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. In the second half of the race, however, the Porsche 963 of Hertz Team Jota, with Antonio Felix Da Costa capable of temporarily moving into third place by overtaking Nicklas Nielsen after having already “devoured” 499P number 51. “Defeat” was feared for Ferrari, but Antonio Fuoco It somehow limited the damage. The Calabrian, once he got into the car, he consolidated his third place, distancing the 963 of Hertz Team Jota. It didn’t go as well for Pier Guidi’s Ferrari 499P Hypercar, Giovinazzi and Calado. After a fortuitous “fratricidal” contact between Fuoco and Pier Guidi at turn 8, was also overtaken by the Porsche 963 Penske Motorsport of Vanthoor, Estre and Lotterer thus leaving the Top Five overall.

CATWALK TO HARTLEY

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For the rest, the race did not experience any particular setbacks, except a short phase of Full Course Yellow to remove debris that broke off at turn 1 in the collision between the Oreca 07 Gibson Prema Racing of Viscaal and the Aston Martin Vantage AMR by Daniel Mancinelli, still managed to continue. The last minutes of the race were pure academy for Brendon Hartley which, with a considerable advantage over Kamui Kobayashiwent on to win the race by separation and with it the 2023 FIA WEC drivers’ title. For Toyota a peremptory one double with which to legitimize the title among the Builders already won in Japan. Third place for Fire/Nielsen/Molina, which somehow saved Ferrari’s honor. The 499P closes “waning” a season that still brought about exciting moments such as the success at Le Mans. At the foot of the podium, the Porsche 963 of Stevens/Da Costa/Ye and of Estre/Vanthoor/Lotterer, while Pier Guidi in the end managed a less than exciting sixth place finish which did not repay the enormous efforts of AF Corse. Huge disappointment for Cadillac: Bamber, Lynn and Westbrook in the end they only finished eleventh overall, also beaten by the less than exciting teams Peugeot 9X8 of Menezes/Muller/Duval and of Vergne/Di Resta/Jensen.

THE “FAREWELL” OF LMP2 IN THE SIGN OF THE WRT TEAM

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In LMP2, at the last race in its historythe team WRT made a loud statement by taking a peremptory one-two just like Toyota Gazoo Racing. To win Louis Delétraz, Rui Andrade and Robert Kubica who thus won thelast specialty title. Completing the team’s success was second place Frijns/Gelael/Habsburgwhile third place went to the Oreca 07-Gibson which Jota array for Heinemeier-Hansson, Pietro Fittipaldi and Rasmussen. Prema Racing is back on track with Viscaal/Ugran/Correa fourth in class ahead of their teammates Daniil Kvyat, Mirko Bortolotti and Doriane Pin. Disappointing race for the Alpine Elf Team and United Autosports crews, penalized by the initial accident and various technical problems.

THE LATEST OF LM GTE AM AT THE IRON DAMES

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“Historic” Bahrain race for the Iron Dames Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy who achieved a beautiful class success with the pink Porsche 911 RSR-19. In the early stages of the race there was a “blitz”. Matteo Cressoni with Iron Lynx’s 911, but a couple of hours before the end of the race the yellow-black Porsche suffered a technical problem with Alessio Picariello behind the wheel, thus having to step aside and definitively leaving the leadership to the “ladies”. With this victory the Iron Dames legitimized their second place in the final category ranking, already won well in advance by Corvette C8R of Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nicolas Varrone. Corvette Racing’s last race wasn’t particularly exciting, finishing seventh in class. The surprising ones complete the category podium Aston Martin Vantage AMR: Stevenson/Fujii/Talbot they finished in second place, Mancinelli/Riberas/James at the third. Not much glory for the Ferrari 488s, on their last outing in the FIA ​​WEC before giving way to the 296: the best was the AF Corse of Davide Rigon/Francesco Castellacci/Thomas Flohr fourth grade to the detriment of the specimen Kessel Racing by Serra/Masson/Kimura. As for Alessio Rovera, finished ninth in class on the 488 shared with Lilou Wadoux and Luis Perez Companc. Honest races for the Italians at the wheel of the Porsche 911 RSR-19: Riccardo Pera he finished eighth in class with the GR Racing car e Matteo Cairoli tenth with that Project1-AO shared with Hyett and Gunnar Jeannetteknown for having been Paul Newman’s long-time teammate in the ALMS.

A FEW MONTHS BREAK AND THEN…QATAR

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The FIA ​​WEC 2023 therefore goes to the archives, with the Toyota-Ferrari duel as the “leitmotif”, but there won’t be much time to rest. The start of the new season is set for the first weekend of March Losailin Qatar, with the unreleased Endurance of 1812 km. The calendar will be revolutionized, with Monza replaced by ImolaSebring replaced by Austin and the return to Braziland the entry of the new ones will arouse much interest LM GT3. The countdown has already begun…

THE RANKING OF THE BAHRAIN 8 HOURS

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Here is the final ranking of the Eight Hours of Bahrain, the last round of the FIA ​​WEC:

1. Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa (Toyota GR010 Hybrid) 249 laps in 8.01’08”;
2. Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José Maria Lopez (Toyota GR010 Hybrid) at 58”243;
3. Antonio Fuoco/Nicklas Nielsen/Miguel Molina (Ferrari 499P) at 1’36”286;
4. Antonio Felix Da Costa/William Stevens/Yifei Ye (Porsche 963 Hertz Team Jota) at 1’37”248;
5. Kevin Estre/Laurens Vanthoor/André Lotterer (Porsche 963 Penske Motorsport) 1 lap.