Edge-of-seat spectacular

Bahrain may not have hosted the season-ending finale of the World Endurance Championship this year as it did in 2013, yet it was still witness to a thrilling six-hour racing spectacle and saw a number of titles won.

There are many who believe that this duration is too long for a race, yet with five categories of cars flying around the circuit there is always plenty of action. with relatively few crashes or dangerous incidents, in partly accredited to the new  floodlights located all around the BIC.

Unlike F1, qualifying is based on the average speed of two drivers from their fastest laps and it was Neel Jani who continued to dominate with the fastest lap times, setting a blistering pace that left the rest in his wake.

This allowed Porsche to claim pole position, a more dominant ranking with the rolling start and it sped into the first bend, closely followed by the No. 20 car, which gained a place from the grid.

However, endurance races aren’t based on the fastest laps, but rather the ability to consistently repeat them in a reliable car. Despite the pace being set by the two Porsche Hybrid cars early on, it was not long before they were hunted down by Sebastien Buemi, whose Toyota passed both in quick succession.

Reliability was their downfall with the hybrid system on their car, which experienced technical difficulties with the warmer weather in Bahrain. However, he and his co-driver, Anthony Davidson, were able to recover and claim the driver’s championship in style and were rewarded for their consistency throughout the season, despite finishing a distant 11th in Bahrain.

In claiming the other two podium positions, commendably less than a lap behind, Porsche cemented their strongest result of the season which augers well for next year, having debuted this season.

While the plaudits were reserved for the faster, yet eerily quieter, hybrid cars, it was the GT (sports touring cars) races that saw the closest action. The lead swapped hands throughout the race with Aston Martin and Ferrari, the early contenders, while both Porsche cars came back into contention as the pit-stop strategies unfurled. At one point mid-race all three manufacturers had a car lapping within seconds of the lead, no mean feat after 500km of racing!

Indeed, it was the No. 97 Aston of Turner and Mucke that traded places with the No. 51 Ferrari of Bruni and Vilander, the greater power of the Aston proving dominant as its distinctive yellow, centrally-mounted headlights dissected the Bahrain night-time.

However, it’s thirsty engine necessitated an additional pit-stop and a problem with the rear spoiler in the first stop that cost them only 10 seconds proved decisive as the Ferrari was able to claim the chequered flag less than two seconds ahead, proving that even in a six-hour race, the tiniest of problems can make the difference.

Victory for the prancing horse AF Corse team allowed Bruni and Vilander to claim the driver’s championship, the second in succession for Bruni, and AF Corse’s third consecutive LMGTE Pro Teams championship with the No 71 Ferrari of Rigon and Calado completing the podium.

This is a remarkable feat for the Ferrari team having lost their lead car to an early accident in Shanghai, not only losing vital points but having to rebuild their car in time for the race in Sakhir.

In the amateur category it was the No 95 Aston that was dominant with Poulsen, in particular, regularly recording lap times faster than the professional teams, enabling them to wrap up the world title for another year.

Late-race dramas for the No.27 SMP Racing caught fire causing a panic on the pit-lane and the ORECA 03 Nissan (Zlobin-Minassian-Mediani) meant that G-Drive Racing’s trio of Roman Rusinov, Olivier Pla and Julien Canal came away from Bahrain with a Championship lead of eight points over Russian Sergey Zlobin. The Ligier JS P2 had a far from easy 7th round with two long stops to repair collision damage, so they will be looking for a far smoother finale in Brazil.
 
SMP Racing’s disappointment in the outcome for the No.27 was balanced by a solid performance from its No.37 entry of Kirill Ladygin-Victor Shaitar-Anton Ladygin who finished second under the lights in the desert. The Russians, however, were comprehensively outclassed by the KCMG line up of Matt Howson-Richard Bradley-Alexandre Imperatori who won their second race of the season in the No.47 ORECA 03R Nissan.

The cars return to action at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil in two weeks time with the all-important LMP and GT manufacturer’s titles up for grabs.

The support races also saw some spectacular action with those of a certain age able to reminisce nostalgically to motor racing 40 years ago with the presence of the sons of Nicky Lauda and James Hunt, made famous to the younger generation in the recently-released film, Rush!

Mathias Lauda and Freddie Hunt were battling it out in the Indian single-seater MRF series.  Powered by Renault engines that produce similar power to the popular Formula 3000 series it was the young Austrian who won the battle of the famous names with Lauda claiming his first win in the fourth and final race, although it was the young Brit, Toby Sowery, who leads the championship despite not finishing first in any of the races in the desert.

Ryan Cullen is his closest challenger and he will be hoping to overhaul his 15 point deficit in the final round in Chennai at the end of January.

Clemens Schmid was a cut-above the rest as he claimed two wins on the opening weekend of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

The presence of Fernando Alonso at the circuit on race-day had social media in a twirl. With him loitering on the grid near the Porsche cars he was overheard admiring this championship and their cars in particular. 

With Mark Webber already having made the switch from Formula 1, this led to speculation that the former world champion could be seen racing in the endurance championship next season. If you follow this school of thought you could link this to a possible move to Audi the following season,who is rumoured to be returning to F1!

Alternatively, depending on who you want to believe, Alonso was here to sign a contract with McLaren who are part-owned by Mumtalakat meaning that it could be Jenson Button who moves to the WEC!

Watch this space …