Captivating performances

It’s been an historic year for the World Endurance Championship with the Le Mans 24-hour race celebrating its 90th anniversary while Aston Martin went one better in completing 100 years.

Bahrain proudly hosted the end-of-season championship with seven titles up for grabs. The final of eight races, the kingdom welcomed 28 teams to do battle at the Bahrain International Circuit. 

With the European races culminating with the 24 hour ‘Jewel in the Crown’ at Le Mans (reflected in the points allocated for victory), the teams first travelled to America and Brazil before arriving in the Middle East having completed six-hour races at the racetracks in Fuji and Shanghai.

This race series combines some of the most historic names in motor-racing with a host of big-name drivers who graced Formula 1. It can, however, be a race that is difficult to follow, although the different categories are well identified by colour differentials.
 
Innovation and cutting-edge technology are evident in the fastest machines on display, the LMP1s, in particular, provided by Audi and Toyota. Their whispering hybrid engines are not to the liking of many petrol-heads, although the innovation and technology employed has to be admired.

The season has been comfortable for Audi with their two teams trading places at the top of the podium (with the solitary exception of Fuji), with the team of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval having already claimed the title prior to arrival. However, a failed drive shaft brought an early end to their race leaving Lotterer, Fassler and Treluyer to do battle with the Toyotas.

Claiming their first win of the season for Toyota Hybrid was one man who always receives an extra-special welcome to Bahrain, Sebastien Buemi, as highlighted in today’s Back Page report. It was fitting that it was he who crossed the finish line, as it was his fireworks on the track that allowed them to be released into the fog-free night skies over the circuit.

The winning time of 70 seconds demonstrates the fine balance between endurance and performance. Both manufacturers encountered problems. The pole-winning Toyota was the first to suffer with an engine problem leaving the No. 7 car stricken at the end of the pit lane. Audi was soon to follow with a drivetrain failure accounting for their No 2 car.

The leading category will be boosted by the added competition of Porsche next season.

Despite the LMP1 Privateer title being wrapped up some time ago by the uncontested Rebellion Racing, the Swiss team’s last race with the Lola-Toyota ended in spectacular fashion with an engine fire just before the clock hit 90 minutes gone. Nicolas Prost sensibly pulled off next to a fire marshal’s post to enable the flames to be extinguished quickly, but the incident forced the team into retirement.

Elsewhere, the competition was intense and none more so than in the second category for prototypes.  While designed exclusively for racing, the LMP2 cars are required to use an engine derived from production cars.

Heading to Bahrain the championship was led by the Oak Racing team number 35 of Baguette, Gonzalez and Plowman who were marginally ahead of their colleagues in car 24. However, the form team of the championship was that of G-Force who had won three of their previous four races. 

Bahrain was to also prove to their liking as the team from Russia made it a fourth win although it was insufficient to dislodge the team from France, leaving the winners of the race third in the championship.
 
The racing throughout was intense as there was little to choose between at least five cars for the full six-hour duration of the race although Oak did enough to secure a 1-2 finish for the season.

The British team celebrating their centenary had every reason to believe this would be their year. Leading in five of the GT categories, the Aston team in Gulf Racing colours had a disastrous time in Bahrain, losing both cars in the Pro-category to engine failure.

Ferrari were the main beneficiary as the No.51 458 Italia of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander dominated the race, crossing the finish line to wild celebrations from the AF Corse team. As a result, Ferrari secured the World Endurance Cup for GT Manufacturers and, for Bruni, the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers.

It was a minor consolation for the Aston team that they did walk away with the race win and overall championship for the Amateur drivers title. However, they were overhauled in the manufacturer’s title by the No. 81 Ferrari of 8 Star Motorsport.

Elsewhere, in the support races, there were strong performances from Bahraini drivers. In the Porsche GT3 Cup, Mohammed Mattar secured a strong fifth place finish in the Gold category while Shaikh Jaber Al Khalifa fought hard for third place on the podium in the Silver category. Abdulrahman Ghuloom dominated the 2,000cc Challenge, comfortably winning both races, demonstrating his experience as his competitors fell by the wayside.