The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 HYBRID of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson powered to victory in the 2017 6 Hours of Bahrain, scoring the trio’s fifth win of the season in dominant fashion, finishing a lap clear of the other three runners in the LMP1 class.
The winning car was the only LMP1 car to have a clean run to the flag, the other three having various issues throughout, resulting in Toyota’s #8 crew cruising to victory.
“It’s amazing to get five wins in a season; I am really happy,” Buemi said. “It’s the first time we have achieved that and it shows what a good car the team produced. I’m trying to enjoy the moment but on the other side I am a bit sad because it’s the end of an era with Porsche leaving LMP1. Still, we worked very hard for this so we will enjoy this win.”
For Porsche, today’s race wasn’t the swan song for its LMP1 programme it hoped for, the German marque having to settle for a second and third place finish, the world champions in the #2 finishing ahead of the #1 sister car on the podium. Both were delayed in the race, the #2 losing time early due to a bollard getting wedged in the nose, and the #1 colliding with the Gulf Racing Porsche at Turn 1 with two hours left.
The #7 Toyota meanwhile, which like the #1 Porsche, will finish the season winless, was also in the wars, Kamui Kobayashi hitting the #92 Porsche at Turn 2 at the halfway mark, costing it valuable time in the pit stops.
In LMP2, Vaillante Rebellion’s #31 crew were crowned LMP2 Teams and Drivers Champions in dramatic fashion. Julien Canal and Bruno Senna claiming the Drivers title (Nicolas Prost missing a race, and therefore a chance at the title), winning the race by just 10 seconds. It wasn’t a comfortable win, Senna losing a lot of time from a penalty for colliding with the #24 Manor ORECA, before being forced to complete the final hour without power steering, losing him a lot of time as he fought with the car to the flag.
“Until the race is over, it’s never over,” said Prost. “When I heard that Bruno said the power steering was failing, I thought maybe we could still finish. At Paul Ricard at an endurance test in the past I did 20 laps with no power steering, so I remember that you can do it.
“In the end it worked out and the team won the championship by 10 seconds, after so many hours of racing this year.”
The #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA came home second, Oliver Jarvis unable to catch and pass Senna at the end to claim the title. Instead, The Britain and teammates Thomas Laurent and Ho Pin Tung had to settle for the runners up spot in the standings after leading championship for most of the season.
The #38 crew were considerably hampered by the apparent inability for their car to pick up the final 15 litres in the tank, the car completing successive fuel stints of 20, 19, 18, and 17 laps whilst their main competitors were managing a steady 21 or 22 – That said the title battle come down to just 10 seconds on the road after 72 hours of track action during the season.
Third on the road was the sister Rebellion ORECA, making a double podium for the Anglo-Swiss team, adding to the team’s celebrations; winning the titles in its debut season racing in the LMP2 class.
The #36 Signatech Alpine A470 recovered to finish the race fourth. Nicolas Lapierre led early, before losing a ton of time and places with worn tyres in the second hour while on an alternate strategy; the Frenchman outside the top five before Andre Negrao climbed aboard for his first stint. Teammate Gustavo Menezes was therefore unable to defend his LMP2 title.
And fifth on the road in LMP2 was the #25 CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA, which led the class early in the race during Vitaly Petrov’s stint at the start.
AF Corse meanwhile, stormed to victory in GTE Pro, and the GTE Pro Drivers and Teams World Championships, claiming a clean sweep for the team, which took the Manufacturers crown for Ferrari at Shanghai. The #51 – which won the titles – of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi was due to come home first, but the team switched the two Ferraris at the end, Sam Bird and Davide Rigon in the #71 taking the win.
After the race Bird climbed out and proposed to his girlfriend (who said yes), adding to the emotion of the final race.
“We lost a lot of time because Davide pitted, and as he rejoined, the Full-Course Yellow came out in the middle of the race,” said Bird. “We went from a minute lead, to a 30-second deficit. I thought it was over, but we clawed it back, had a great battle with the Porsche, and got James (Calado) who was tootling round at the end making sure his car finished. We’re both happy!
When asked about his proposal, Bird said: “We bought the ring last week, so it was coming, either today or in Hong Kong, but I thought “why not?” after a win,” Bird said. “I’m glad she said “yes”, it would have been embarrassing after a loss, that would have sucked!”
Crucially, the titles won by the AF Corse Drivers and Ferrari as a manufacturer this year are the first in the GTE Pro class as an official FIA World Championship.
“This is the best second place finish of my career for sure!” said Pier Guidi.
Third on the road was the #67 Ford GT, which was in the running for the win throughout but lost 30 seconds at its fourth stop. The car was due to finish, fourth until three-time FIA WTCC champion Andy Priaulx muscled past Fred Makowiecki’s #91 Porsche in the final minutes to nab himself and Harry Tincknell a podium.
Completing the top five in GTE Pro was the #91 Porsche and #66 Ford. The pair of Aston Martin Vantages didn’t sign off their time in the GTE Pro class with a podium, the #95 of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim ran at the rear of the field for the entire race, and the #97 faded late after climbing into the top three in the fifth hour.
While Aston Martin Racing failed to feature in GTE Pro at Bahrain, its #98 Vantage took the win in GTE Am, and as a result the Teams and Drivers championship, the first for Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy. The #61 Clearwater Ferrari came home second, capping off its highly successful debut WEC season with another set of trophies. Spirit of Race’s 488 GTE finished third.
Off the podium were the class’ two Porsches, both of which, had tough outings. The Dempsey Proton 911 came home fourth, a lap down after having to change its left-front headlight, and the Gulf Racing Porsche crossed the line seven laps adrift of the winners after starting a lap down (after receiving a penalty for skipping qualifying) and was later hit by the #1 Porsche of Tandy, costing them further time in the pits.
