WEC: Toyota wins in Bahrain as Ferrari and Porsche clash in GTE-Pro

Both the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 were locked in an enthralling battle with the No. 51 making contact with the Porsche in the race’s final 15 minutes.

Pier Guidi eventually held onto the win, crossing the finish line first to become provisional champion alongside James Calado.  However, an investigation is currently underway after Porsche filed a protest following the end of the race. Currently in P2 is the Porsche driven by Kevin Estre, Neel Jani and Michael Christensen.

The No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra finished today’s race in third position ahead of No.91 Porsche 911 RSR of Gimmi Bruni, Richard Lietz and Frederic Makowiecki.

No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari win LMGTE Am for second consecutive year

The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari crew  took the 2021 LMGTE Am title in style as Alessio Rovera, Nicklas Nielsen and Francois Perrodo won today’s race in Bahrain.

It is the team’s fourth victory of the season and sees the team successfully defend its GTE Am title as they finish the year 59.5 points ahead of TF Sport who had a troubled race today from start to finish.

Indeed, TF Sport were the only team who could really challenge AF Corse Ferrari today but were knocked out of contention when the No. 33 car incurred a puncture on the opening lap caused by contact with the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing car.

TF Sport did a super job of fighting back after the incident but a further collision with the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari later in the race resulted in a broken steering rack and dashed any hopes of a chance at the title.  The team eventually retired after spending more than 90 minutes in the pits making repairs to the Aston Martin Vantage AMR.

The No. 77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche belonging to Matt Campbell, Jaxon Evans and Christian Ried finished runner-up in Bahrain today and also finished third in the overall standings.

Rounding out today’s podium was the No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche of Egidio Perfetti, Riccardo Pera and Matteo Cairoli, the crew making a good recovery following a one minute penalty earlier in the race.

Pole-sitters Cetilar Racing finished today’s race fourth overall, the Italian squad was hit earlier in the race by the No. 777 D’Station Aston Martin driven by Tomanobu Fuji who was given a drive-through-penalty as a result.

Elsewhere, the No. 88 Dempsey Proton Porsche retired early in the race as Axcil Jefferies spun and was unable to restart due to a mechanical issue.

Dream season for Team WRT as Bahrain win sees them crowned LMP2 Champions

The FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams was fiercely fought over this season but eventually went to Team WRT after a spectacular debut season in the WEC for the Belgian-based squad.

Team WRT were just five points ahead of rivals JOTA going into the final race so it was all to play for in the season finale. However, Team WRT’s Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Robin Frijns once again put in a superb performance in the No. 31 Oreca 07 Gibson to take a third consecutive victory.

Team WRT’s LMP2 title ensured they became the first Belgian team to take a WEC title, and also means that Frijns is the first Dutch champion in LMP2 history. It also rounds off a dream season for the squad which has seen them claim the ELMS title, as well as the LMP2 victory at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

During the race itself, however, it was Racing Team Nederland who emerged as early race leaders as Giedo Van Der Garde once again got off to a rapid start where he remained out in front for the first two hours.

The No. 38 and No. 28 JOTA cars finished second and third overall, the No. 38 car driven by Antonio Felix da Costa, Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzales eventually finishing over a minute behind race winners Team WRT. It was a particularly emotional race for Davidson who announced earlier this week he would retire from the WEC following a 22 year racing career.

The No. 28 JOTA car’s third place finish in the race saw Stoffel Vandoorne, Sean Gelael and Tom Blomqvist finish runner-up in the LMP2 title-fight, twenty points adrift of champions Team WRT.

Last year’s LMP2 Champions United Autosports finished P4 during the race and end the season fourth in the overall leaderboard. The No. 22 crew made up of Filipe Albuquerque, Fabio Scherer and Phil Hanson started the race on pole but eventually finished four seconds down on the No. 38 JOTA crew. They end the season with a total of 107 points.

Fifth in Bahrain and also fifth in the LMP2 standings at the end of the season was Inter Europol Competition, the Polish squad proving to be consistent throughout the year with its trio of drivers Jakub Smiechowski, Renger Van der Zander and Alex Brundle – the latter who recently confirmed he will remain with the squad for 2022.

Bahrain 8 Hours – Race results