Crowning moment!

Mark Webber has had an incredible career. Most will remember him for his nine victories in Formula One, or possibly the 2012 season with Red Bull where for the first half of the season he was faster than Sebastien Vettel. Before that he had raced sport cars with Mercedes, most memorably surviving two crashes at Le Mans in 1999.

He had a roof over his head again with Porsche for the start of the 2014 season yet the car was initially uncompetitive – at least until Bahrain, where the team secured a double-podium.

Yet, throughout this long and industrious track time, he had never won a world championship – until Bahrain, the home of motorsport in the Middle East, came to the rescue and finally delivered him his crown.

The Bahrain International Circuit has developed a global reputation for delivering the most extensive off-track entertainment for spectators yet, once again, it also provided a thrilling spectacle that provided a nail-biting finish to the World Endurance Championship.

Entering the final round with a 12-point lead in the drivers’ championship, the Number 17 Porsche quickly extended this by an additional point after securing a scorching pole position.

The race started with La Marseillaise while many teams and officials sported black armbands as competitors stood side-by-side to denounce terrorism.

The camaraderie was soon lost as the cars bunched at the end of the main straight after the rolling start. It looked as though the team’s closest rivals, the Number 7 Audi, may find a way into second only for the compatriot Porsche to close the door and provide some protection.

The opening driver, sports car legend Timo Bernhard, steadily built a lead only for the vehicle to develop a problem with its fuel pressure, forcing it back to the pits. There it stayed for eight laps until all other cars had passed.

Marcel Fassler, now with the championship in his sights, was unable to make any headway until the first safety car appeared after three hours due to an accumulation of track debris.

With the marshals being praised by race control for their speed and bravery, full racing quickly resumed allowing the Audi to take the lead … meaning they had one hand on the trophy.

Meanwhile, a great recovery drive from Brendon Hartley, handing over to Mark Webber, meant that Porsche was back into fifth and the points, a position they maintained until the end despite fighting recurring problems.

Throughout his F1 career Webber has had to contend with fighting teammates, yet on this occasion, his worst result of the season, he was grateful to the near-flawless performance from the No.18 Porsche of Dumas, Jani and Lieb to secure a long-overdue victory meaning celebrations throughout the Porsche garage.

Taking inspiration from the qualifying session when all the lights went out, Alexander Wurz was able to finish an incredible career from the podium after his Toyota finished third for the first time this season.

While F1 is recognised as the pinnacle of global motorsport, it is the WEC that is considered by aficionados to be the purest. Most importantly, this is where the manufacturers want to be as a freedom of regulations based on efficiency (the current cars use 40 per cent less fuel than a few years ago, yet still lap faster) allow them to be innovative in developing new technology more immediately transferable to their road cars.

As F1 struggles to find new teams, Porsche entered WEC in 2014 while Nissan will join next year.

With their success in Bahrain they have also demonstrated that you can win a championship without spending a fortune.

The competition is closer as well. Despite all racing with different engines and sometimes fuel, crucially they all race with pre-determined rear diffusers, which effectively makes overtaking easier as cars are able to slip-stream.

Watching the heavy Aston Martin holding its own for half a lap with the open cockpit single seater of G-Drive was a sight to behold.

Despite it being a long race there is always plenty of action. The number 71 Ferrari lost a wheel at Turn 14 just after the half-way mark while watching the number 44 of AF Racing do a couple of laps while trying to close the drivers door was reminiscent of former Bahrain DJ Krazy Kevin’s antics during a celebrity V8s event on the circuit some years ago.

Off-track, the arrival of Dempsey-Proton Racing caused quite a stir – can the swoon-inducing doctor, Patrick Dempsey, have ever caused so much commotion from NOT being in a country?

The World Endurance Championship was the headline act last weekend although there was a bumper weekend of motorsport as the previous stars of F1 now driving in the WEC swap brake dust with the aspirational F1 stars of the future currently in the GP2 and GP3 series.

While many racers start their careers in karting, GP2 success is a launchpad for an F1 opportunity with past winners including champion Lewis Hamilton and his rival and teammate, Nico Rosberg.

Indeed several of the GP2 drivers in Bahrain already have F1 experience with Alexander Rossi having made his debut for Marussia in Singapore and recently returned from racing in Brazil.

However, the star this season has been Stoffel Vandoorne who wrapped up the title in Sochi. The Belgian continued his domination at the Sakhir circuit with a first and second demonstrating why he is already contracted to struggling McLaren.

His success helped his Art team to the constructors’ title meaning that, as the series heads to Abu Dhabi next weekend for its own finale, only second place is up for grabs with Rossi favourite to win that battle.